In a smoky stairwell, with embers falling from the ceiling and his neighbor slung over his shoulder, Newark Mayor Cory Booker called it his "proverbial come to Jesus moment."
The mayor of New Jersey's largest city was carrying out a constituent he had rushed into a burning home to save, first pushing aside security detail who tried to hold him back by his belt. He didn't feel like a hero: "I felt terror," he told reporters on Friday, speaking with a burned, bandaged right hand.
The 42-year-old mayor, who has dug out snowbound residents in a blizzard, lived in a rundown housing project to make a point and tagged along on police patrols to lecture drug dealers, took on a new status Friday: the politician who can do almost anything.
Thousands took to Twitter, calling Booker Superman and inviting him to solve the North Korean missile crisis or run for president. The governor called it a "brave move" and the fire director said the mayor was one of the most heroic men he'd ever met.
Booker, standing in front of the boarded-up home Friday, said, "I did what any neighbor would do - help a neighbor."
He ended up with second-degree burns and smoke inhalation after he brought out Zina Hodge, 47, from her smoky bedroom in the home next to his in a rough neighborhood of brick homes, storefront churches and small bodegas. He was coughing heavily after the rescue late Thursday.
