A young Chick-fil-A manager was captured on surveillance video, leaping out the drive-thru window after a scene in a nearby car caught his attention. After spotting a child in the backseat, the manager realized something was wrong and flew into action. Now, his own heartbreaking back story has emerged.
Logan Simmons, a 19-year-old manager at a Georgia Chick-fil-A, was inside the Flowery Branch location where he works one second and leaping out the drive-thru window and into a nearby car the next. His actions are giving us all another reason to love “America’s favorite restaurant chain.” But, there’s a reason Logan was in the right place at the right time, and it’s a heartbreaking story.
Logan’s ordinary Tuesday shift took a turn when he was standing near the open drive-thru window and overheard panicked screams coming from outside the restaurant. What captured the teen’s attention was a frantic mother, yelling that her 6-year-old son’s seat belt was choking him. At that moment, Logan’s instincts kicked in and spurred him to action.
Surveillance camera video captured Logan climbing out the drive-thru window and running to get to the vehicle on the lot. As he reached the car in the drive-thru lane, Logan jumped inside and found the boy turning red in the backseat as his airway was restricted by the belt, which had somehow become tangled around his neck, all while the child’s frightened mother begged for help.
“You could see he was turning red and losing pigmentation in his face,” Logan recalled. Thankfully, the manager was prepared to save the day. Using his pocketknife, the Hall County teen snipped the belt and freed the child, saving the boy’s life. But, Logan was initially very nonchalant about the entire ordeal. “He’d been home for a couple of hours, and he said nonchalantly, ‘I saved a kid’s life today,’ and I was like ‘What?’” Logan’s mother Teri Simmons recalled.
For Logan, his efforts were just all in a day’s work. “I just jumped out the window and ran straight down to the car,” Logan Simmons said. “I think it was the quickest option. It was right there, and I saw the other car right there,” he told WSB-TV.
“As soon as I realized what was going on, all I could think about was getting to the car as quickly as possible, so I jumped through the window. I’m still a little shocked by what happened but am grateful I was able to help,” Logan said. “I’m just so thankful everyone is okay,” he added in a statement provided by the restaurant chain, according to Inside Edition.
Logan Simmons has since been hailed a hero, receiving an outpouring of praise and support from the community, and rightfully so. “Everyone’s been cheering and shouting my name and asking me to come sit with them and stuff,” he said, adding that people have been making special trips to the local Chick-fil-A just to talk to him while he’s at work. “It’s been really nice,” he said. “I do feel like a hero.”
The boy’s mother also reportedly called Logan Simmons to thank him again, calling him a hero for saving her son’s life. Logan’s own mother is pretty impressed with her son too. “I’m amazed he didn’t panic. As his mother, I would have panicked. I’d be running around going, ‘Oh my gosh! What do we do?’” Teri Simmons admitted.
There’s more to Logan Simmons and his character than this one heroic story, however. His heartbreaking backstory is what had him at Chick-fil-A at just the right time, to begin with. After losing his father to cancer when Logan was just 8 years old, the teen was working to put away money for his first car. Thanks to his heroism, he’s gotten some help.
The children’s charity November Smiles, whose core mission is to “help children and teenagers realize that even through the toughest times in life, they have something to truly smile about,” presented Logan with a financial gift, offering a donation towards his car fund. The charity also set up a GoFundMe campaign to help raise even more money for Logan to purchase his dream vehicle, so he will no longer have to depend on his mom and siblings to take him to and from work.
It’s no wonder Chick-fil-A has earned the title “America’s favorite restaurant” many years in a row. The Georgia-based chicken chain has good food and great staff. Chick-fil-A employees are already known for being polite and eager to please, and now, they’re becoming increasingly known as real-life heroes, who are ready to leap into action and help those in need.
Indeed, Chick-fil-A’s customer service is perhaps just as well-known as its food, and their staff is constantly setting an example of how we wish the rest of the world could be. They are perfect role models, reminding us all how we should treat others. Logan Simmons is just one of many stellar individuals employed by the chicken chain, who completely understands what it means to serve. Job well done.
