NEWARK, n.j. —In a smoky stairwell, with embers falling from the ceiling and his neighbor slung over his shoulder, Cory Booker experienced his “proverbial come-to-Jesus moment,” he said.
The mayor of New Jersey’s largest city was carrying a constituent he had rushed into a burning home to save, first pushing aside security detail who tried to restrain him by his belt.
He didn’t feel like a hero: “I felt terror,” he told reporters Friday, a day after the fire. He spoke 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 had 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. The second-term mayor was coughing heavily after the rescue late Thursday.
Shortly after returning from taping a TV appearance Thursday, Booker rushed into the burning home after hearing Hodge’s mother scream that her daughter was trapped. Following her faint calls of “I’m here. I’m here. Help! I’m here,” Booker lifted her from her bed and carried her on his shoulders through the burning kitchen, where flames had rolled over the roof and back down the wall.
He nearly panicked in the stairwell, where Newark Detective Alex Rodriguez was helping him bring Hodge out. Booker couldn’t see through the smoke.
“That was the moment I had a conversation with God,” Booker said. “I really didn’t think we were going to get out of there.”
Hodge was listed in serious condition Friday in the intensive-care unit of the burn center at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston. Fire officials said she had suffered second-degree burns to her back and neck and smoke inhalation.
Hodge’s mother, Jacqualine Williams, called Booker “a super mayor” who should become president.
The royal tweet-ment
Those who flocked to Twitter at #corybookerstories competed to see who could capture the 6-foot-3, former college football player’s toughness and heroism in the most entertaining fashion:
• Superman Wears “Cory Booker” Pajamas.
• When Chuck Norris has nightmares, Cory Booker turns on the light & sits with him until he falls back asleep.
• Cory Booker takes his martini shaken, not stirred.
• Booker claims he was nowhere near the N. Korean long-range missile that broke apart after launch. I don’t believe him.
