Stephen St. Bernard, 52, A New York city bus driver has been hailed as the local hero for saving the life of a 7-year-old girl, who fell three stories from the window of a housing complex.

Stephen spotted the girl standing on top of an ac unit three stories up. He recalls the thoughts that were racing through his mind at that very moment,

Please let me catch her, please let me catch her … Let me catch the little baby.

And when the girl did fall, Stephen was there to catch her! This incident has been amazingly captured by bystanders on video as well.

Lets talk a bit about Physics! Here’s what Louis Bloomfield, a physicist at the University of Virginia had to say (interview by Life’s Little Mysteries),

“The girl fell about 25 feet, which took about 1.25 seconds. The man stopped her fall in about 3 or 4 feet, which took about 0.1 second, depending on the stopping distance and how he supported her. So, she accumulated downward momentum over about 1.25 seconds and gave that momentum to the man (and ground) in about 0.1 seconds.” That means, “If she weighs 50 pounds, the man and ground must push up with an average of 12 times that force, or 600 pounds.”

“In a pinch, a man could exert an upward force of 600 pounds briefly, but it would likely hurt and could cause injury,” said the Physicist. “And the girl could tolerate that much upward force briefly, if distributed properly.”

The end result, Stephen did suffer a torn tendon in his shoulders but saved the 7-year-old’s life.

Life’s little miracles indeed!

[via lifeslittlemysteries.com]