PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — When President Joe Biden makes his State of the Union speech Tuesday night at the U.S. Capitol, a SEPTA bus driver who stopped a carjacking last month will be in attendance to see it in person.
Route 5 bus driver Chris DeShields will be the guest of Philadelphia Congressman Brendan Boyle, in recognition of his "heroism and courage." When Boyle’s office called him last week with the invitation, DeShields says, he didn’t recognize the phone number calling him from area code 202.
DeShields jokes that he has dozed off while watching the State of the Union speech on TV in the past — but he promises to stay awake for this one.
“It’s really big to me, because it’s like — man, I never thought I’d be able to go there,” he said.
When DeShields returned the call, he said, Boyle told him that his dad had retired from SEPTA some years before. And Boyle told DeShields’ the story of his intervention in Fishtown last month touched his heart.
The Philadelphia Democrat says DeShields is "a true example of an ordinary person who did an extraordinary thing."
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On Jan. 25, DeShields was on his Route 5 run along Frankford Avenue near West Thompson Street when he saw three men aggressively approach a woman near her parked car.
“You could tell that something bad was happening. And you could see them grab the keys out of her hand and she ran,” he said.
The 17-year SEPTA veteran pulled his bus in front of the woman’s car so they couldn’t escape with it.
“They looked at me and you could see all of their eyes light up. And they just got out and ran,” he said.
Since the incident, DeShields says, SEPTA has honored him and old friends have reached out on Facebook.
“A lot of my kids’ teachers, they’re thanking me. I’m like: ‘Man, this is wild!’”
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