PALM HARBOR -- A homeless man in Pinellas County became a good Samaritan when he pulled two children away from the fire that left them motherless, three days before Christmas.
34-year-old Jared Pierson was asking people for money outside the Circle K store on East Lake Road near Tampa Road in Palm Harbor Wednesday afternoon, when he heard the explosion and saw the flames that followed another driver hitting a gas pump. The pump fell on another woman who was pumping gas, pinning her to her car as it exploded. She died in the flames as her 11-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter used fire extinguishers in an attempt to save her life. They were in the car when the fire broke out and got out to help their mother.
Pierson said he didn't know that the siblings' mother was in those flames when he reacted, and that if he had known they were trying to save her, he would have tried to do more.
The Florida Highway Patrol says the driver who hit the pump likely will not face charges, as she was not impaired at the time of the crash.
More on the story from News Channel 8:
Photo: FHP