Supporters of a felon newly released from jail turned Good Samaritan have raised $50,000 after he pulled a man out of a car that was smoking from a crash last week, but now the man is asking them to stop.
Just days after he was released, 32-year-old Aaron Tucker was on his way to a job interview in Westport, Connecticut after getting off a public bus to help the man in need, WABC reported.
“Someone needed my help, and that’s what I did,” he told WABC. “I helped them.”
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Tucker and two workers from a nearby auto repair shop extracted a 61-year-old from the overturned car, and Tucker used the dress shirt he was wearing to stop the bleeding.
Tucker’s story soon went viral around the nation, and local businesses began offering job opportunities to the Good Samaritan.
Westport resident Karin Dale called the rescue “amazing” and started a GoFundMe page for him and his son, which quickly raised more than $50,000.
“He had places to go. He had a job interview, and he stopped and helped when he didn’t have to.”
But, as soon as word got out of Tucker’s newfound good fortune, people began jockeying him for money, he said in a video posted to social media, asking people to stop the donations, The Associated Press reported.
“You come home and you do one good deed, some thing good start happening for you, everybody start crawling,” Tucker said. “Everybody start coming around like roaches. And that’s sad.”
Tucker said that someone even tried to steal $44,000 by breaking into the crowdfunding account, but they were unsuccessful.
“Hi this is Aaron Tucker I want everyone to know that I am so grateful for all of the support may God be with you all,” he wrote on the GoFundMe page. “I am asking everyone to please stop sending donations because someone has broke into this account and tried to withdraw all of the funds.”
Tucker, who recently served two years in prison on a weapons charge, denied that he is a hero but said that, given the choice, he would do it again.
“It’s all right to hear people saying I’m a hero, that’s their point of view,” he said. “But to me, if it happened again, I’m going to continue to do it, because it’s the right thing.”
Tucker also described Dale as “the best in the world.”
“I’ve never met anyone like this and I am really thankful for her coming into my life,” he said.
Despite Tucker’s request, people continued to donate thousands more.
Tucker said he would like to use the money to start a small business and a college fund for his infant son.
He also said that going forward he hopes to make up for his past and regain his dignity.
“I want people to acknowledge my good,” he said in the video. “If you know me, you know that I was a bad dude. I knew guns… I knew drugs.
Tucker continued, ““For the first time I realized that that doesn’t really matter,” he said. “I got a son now.”
(H/T: WABC)