New York City Plumber Says He Was Fired For Helping Save Woman's Life

David Justino said the media attention from his rescue was too much for his employers.

When an act of heroism occurs in the workplace, you'd hope the responsible worker would receive some kind of reward. But 44-year old New York City plumber David Justino (pictured right) says quite the opposite occurred to him as a result of his courageous act of heroism. As was reported by New York's Daily News, Justino says he was fired as a result of his helping to save the life of 23-year old British tourist, Sian Green. He said his high-profile rescue attracted so much attention his managers decided to just be rid of him. He said his employer gave him no official reason, but in a statement to the media, the New York-based Bass Plumbing said the work had simply run out. 

 Last month, Justino made headlines when he used his plumber's belt as a tourniquet to wrap around Green's severed foot after a cab crashed into her in midtown Manhattan. Justino was working as the foreman at the construction of a Duane Reade in the Rockefeller Center subway station. After the bleeding was brought under control, none other than famous television personality, Dr. Mehmet Oz, stumbled onto the scene and was able to help save Green's life. (She had to get her left leg amputated.) But in speaking to the Daily News in a separate report, Dr. Oz said, "the real hero of the day is plumber Dave." The use of his belt was "very smart thinking. A simple thing like a union plumber's belt can save your life," he said.

 After the movie-like sequence made it to the public, the story soon grabbed headlines, with even NBC's "Today Show" doing a feature on it. And Justino thinks the attention motivated his employers to dismiss him. "I lost my job for saving this girl!" he told the Daily News. "All that commotion, my boss had enough of it and decided it would be better to fire me ... I think I would have been better off doing heroin than being a hero."

 Days after the rescue, Justino's contractor, Bass Plumbing told him his last day on the gig was to be Sept. 13. He said he was forced to return full-time to running his aquarium shop in Yonkers, the Aquarium Critters Warehouse, a gig he prefers to keep as a part-time job.


 Bass Plumbing, for its part, denied the fanfare led to the firing. The reason for the dismissal, they said, was far more mundane -- the work dried up. "Although we were very proud to have him working here, (Justino) was one of three union plumbers laid off due to lack of actual jobs the company is in the process of performing," a company representative said in a statement.

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