Man Found Lying in Middle of Road by Good Samaritan After He Reportedly Jumped Off Bridge To Flee Muggers
How far would you go to escape muggers? If you felt your life was on the line, you might do something daring or downright dangerous in a bid to get away.
One man named Jaden Gonyor in Durban, South Africa, reportedly leaped off a bridge when he was attacked by muggers.
He said he had his phone and his rent money on him, and he didn’t want to lose either — or his life — so he threw himself onto the M13 highway.
Sadly, the attempt did little to help Gonyor get away, and instead he was left under a bridge in the middle of the road with no money, no phone and almost no leg.
It was Johnathan Cookson, a driver passing by, who said he stopped and pulled over to help the poor man.
At first, Cookson thought the man had been hit by a car, based on his location and the extent of his injuries.
“I was driving on the M13 on August 31 about 5pm and there was a guy lying in the middle of the road just below the bridge,” Cookson told TimesLIVE. “His leg was just hanging by the flesh. He was screaming. I thought it was a hit and run so I pulled over.”
“I called the police to report it, ran over to him, got him out of the road and tied up his leg with one of my shoelaces because he was losing a lot of blood and was in a lot of pain,” he said.
Both of the men thought that Gonyor could be on his way out. He’d lost a lot of blood, and though Cookson did his best to comfort the injured man, he, too, suspected that Gonyor didn’t have much time left.
“He kept saying that he didn’t know how he was going to inform his brother,” Cookson said. “I was struggling with the whole thing because here was this injured man, who was broke and his brother wouldn’t know what happened.”
Gonyor was taken to the hospital, where doctors managed to save his leg. It took Cookson some time to figure out where Gonyor was being treated, but when he did, he visited the injured man several times.
“I then walked through all the wards and when I got to the last ward, Jaden was there,” Cookson said. “He was absolutely shocked to see me.”
Cookson learned more about Gonyor, and was moved to find out that he was the sole income earner.
“He is the only breadwinner in his family, even if he was only working one day a week as a gardener. He now cannot work and I just feel terrible for him,” he said.
Cookson didn’t stop there, though: He said he was able to reach Gonyor’s brother and promised to pay the rent.
“He needs all the help he can get,” he said.
While he says he hopes that others will come forward to help out with living costs until Gonyor is able to stand on his own two feet again, Cookson inadvertently lived out the original story of the good Samaritan.
His example is a great reminder of the human compassion that we can all exhibit.
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