Harman Singh heard the screech of brakes from his home in Takanini, New Zealand.
He ran toward Manuroa Road and found 6-year-old Daejon Pahia lying on the ground with a serious head injury. The child was walking to Takanini School with his older sister when a car hit him. Singh didn’t think twice: he removed the dastaar, the turban that in Sikh tradition has deep religious and personal significance, and used it to support the little boy’s head until help arrived.
Daejon was taken to Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland, where doctors diagnosed him with a skull fracture. He needed surgery, but recovered. Days later, Singh went to visit him, by then a photograph of that moment was making the rounds around the world. Local police publicly recognized him, although he never sought the title of hero: to him, there was simply someone who was injured, and he did what he could.
