Mired in capital city traffic with no clear way to circumvent the cars around it, an Oklahoma City ambulance was at the mercy of its surrounding rush-hour drivers as it tried to make its way to a series of emergency calls on Saturday -- one involving a young girl with cancer, who had traveled all the way from London for her treatment.
That was until a certain 6-foot-9-inch do-gooder sliced his car through the lanes and strategically placed it so that the ambulance would be freed from the web of vehicles: Kevin Durant.
“All of a sudden, I see a silver Ferrari or a silver sports car pull in behind us,” EMSA paramedic Peter Radford told the local News 9. “I see this Ferrari has its flashers on. It’s actually making way for us to get through and navigate all the traffic.”
“Once we actually get through all the traffic, this silver Ferrari comes over to the side and waves to my partner,” Radford went on. “And my partner goes, ‘Do you have any idea who that is? … That’s Kevin Durant.'”
According to Radford, KD’s kindness led the paramedics to make it to their second emergency call on time, too, enabling that young girl with cancer to get to her treatment safe and sound.
“So it [was] this positive ripple effect that you might not even realize by doing these little acts of kindness,” Radford added.
For his part, Durant shied away from being crowned hero for his actions, shrugging off what he did as entirely ordinary when speaking with the media at the following Thunder practice.
“I saw the ambulance from behind me, and it was kind of slow in front of me, and I moved over. I said, ‘I’m just going to follow the ambulance so I can get through traffic real quick,’” Durant said. “So I moved over. I can’t take full credit for that.”
Later today, he’ll face the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals -- his team’s toughest challenge of the year, by a long shot. But on Saturday, far from the hardwood and with no basketball in sight, Durant showed us once more why he’s one of the league’s finest.
“I just thought that was so cool that someone like Kevin Durant would take the time to assist this emergency vehicle getting to an emergency call,” Radford said. “All he did was be awesome Kevin Durant, the hometown hero.”
UPDATE: (May 17) For his heroism, Durant will be honored by the Oklahoma Emergency Medical Services Authority (OEMSA) as an "Everyday Hero," an award that's given out four times a year, according to TMZ.
"Kevin’s actions are exactly how we hope citizens help paramedics reach their calls for emergencies. He is a great example of doing his part to help those in need, and he handled it with such modesty," an OEMSA rep told TMZ.
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