A real-life Spider-Man, Mamoudou Gassama, a 22-year old Malian migrantg lives in the Parisian suburb of Montreuil.
He is known as a real-life Spider-Man because he heroically climbed up the side of a building to save a falling child. This incident happened due to carelessness of a father who left his child unsupervised. Within a minute, Gassama managed to scale four floors, just in time to rescue the suspended little boy. Once he got to the balcony, he lunged his leg over it to obtain stability and immediately held and lifted the four-year-old up.
This has happened on Saturday, May 28th around 8 pm on Rue Marx-Dormoy, near the 18th arrondissement, in Northern Paris. By the time Firefighters arrived, the dramatic rescue had already happened. A fire service spokesman said, according to The Guardian “Luckily, there was someone who was physically fit and who had the courage to go and get the child.”
In September 2017, Gassama moved from his homeland of Mali to France, but it was not proved by documents. His only hope was to start a new life.
“He explained to me that he had arrived from Mali sometime back with a dream of achieving his goals here,” reveals Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo. She also appreciated him on Twitter, “I told him that his heroic act is an example to all citizens and that the city of Paris will obviously be very keen to support him in his efforts to settle in France,”
After this incident, Gassama was invited to meet with French President, Emmanuel Macron, the following Monday. He was given a certificate of courage and dedication signed by Paris Police Prefect Michel Delpuech at the Élysée Palace. Especially he was promised of becoming a French citizen. The President said, “All the (Gassama’s) documents will be put in order,”
Macron’s Facebook page recorded live and broadcasted the meeting. Thousands of people watched the video and talked about it all over the internet.
“I was not thinking of anything. I went straight up”, Gassama told Macron. “I’m pleased because it’s the first time I’ve received a trophy like that,” he revealed with pride as he accepted the medal of bravery. The young man was also offered by Macron a position in the fire brigade to help him establish himself in his new home.
The child had been left alone at the apartment after the father had gone to the store. Due to that the young boy’s father, 36, was brought to court on Sunday, May 27th, for prosecution. As stated by French prosecutor, Francois Molins, according to Le Parisien. Molin said, “He went shopping and then decided to play Pokemon Go in the street which took a little time before he returned home.”
The father is very upset because he realizes what he did and what could have happened. The boy’s father could face up to 2 years in prison accompanied by a fine of 30,000 euros if he will be charged with the offense of removing a parent from his legal obligations.
Since it occurred and has generated much praise for Gassama, a video of the remarkable feat has been circulating through the Internet. According to him he was just focussed on helping the little one. He also said, “I felt afraid when I saved the child … [when] we went into the living room, I started to shake, I could hardly stand up, I had to sit down,”.
“I saw all these people shouting, and cars sounding their horns. I climbed up like that and, thank God, I saved the child.” It has been his words of bravery.
