Photo: Getty
A Colorado mail carrier is being hailed a hero after he rescued a 6-year-old girl from inside a parked car after her mother took fentanyl and passed out.
Andrew Russell, a mail carrier with the United States Postal Service, was walking his normal mail route on July 16 when he heard the girl screaming.
“I noticed a car was pulled off on the side of the road,” Russell toldKDVR. “There was a funny noise, almost like an engine was revving, and then I heard a child’s voice that sounded pretty hysterical. So, the second I heard that I just immediately ran over.”
He said he was able to get the girl out of the vehicle and immediately called 911.
“She was saying, like, ‘My mommy’s dead,'” he said. “Her mommy wasn’t moving. So, of course, the child was obviously very freaked out.”
According to the Wheat Ridge Police Department, the girl’s mother, Ashlee Figgers, 25, had taken a fentanyl pill, then attempted to drive to the home of a family member.
“As she was driving, she got tired and pulled to the side of the road where she essentially passed out,” Wheat Ridge Police Department public information officer Joanna Small tells PEOPLE.
“I don’t know if she couldn’t get out of the car or if she was just terrified, but she knew she didn’t know what to do,” she says. “She thought her mom was dead. So, she spotted the mail carrier and that’s why she yelled for help.”
Russell said hearing the child’s cries caused him to immediately react.
According to KDVR, Russell said, “I have a little girl of my own, so it definitely hit a chord that way. She said thank you a couple times and yeah, it meant the world to me that she was just OK.”
She was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs, possession of a controlled substance and child abuse.
“We hope she gets better,” Small says. “She is not a lost cause. Despite the fact she is being charged with child abuse, we know she loves her daughter. She made a terrible decision that could have been so much worse for her daughter. There is help for her, there are resources for her, and we hope she takes advantage of them. She can turn her life around.”
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The child is staying with family members, according to Small.
Small says the department is forever grateful for Russell.
“We are a suburb of Denver,” says Small. “It’s a very tight-knit community. Very supportive community. If it wasn’t for people like him, we don’t know what would have happened. The girl is safe, and her mom didn’t overdose to the point she couldn’t be revived. We are incredibly grateful for his actions.”
It was unclear on Thursday if Figgers has been charged with a crime or retained an attorney.
source: people.com
