Austin Man Calls 911 After Seeing Clark Griswold Dummy Dangling From Roof [VIDEO]
We've seen all kinds of incredible Christmas displays in our lifetime. Some people go above and beyond with giant Santa inflatables in their yard, Christmas lights covering every inch of their property, and more.
One Austinite went so far as to recreate the infamous "National Lampoon Christmas Vacation" scene in which Clark Griswold dangles from the roof and eventually falls.
The set up was so realistic that one passerby actually believed a man was falling off of the roof and sprang into action.
Alfred Norwood Jr. was driving to work when he saw a man dangling from a roof and entangled in lights. A security camera captured him running up to the house screaming to the man to hold on before calling 9-1-1 for help. Norwood tried to get the ladder loose, and when he didn't receive any responses from the dangling man, he feared the man might have been electrocuted.
Once a few minutes had passed, and after he had called 911, he realized what had actually happened. In a phone interview with the Washington Post, he said:
“I thought I was going to save somebody that day...and that was the only thing on my mind. My wife said it was a dummy saving a dummy."
As for the family who put up the decorations, they had no idea what had happened until they saw it on the security footage. They have since put up a sign that reads: "Clark G. is part of our Christmas display. Please don’t call 911."
KVUE-TV followed up with the family living in the home, who say they were able to hear Norwood's phone number when they replayed his call to 9-1-1. They reached out to him to apologize and thank him for trying to do the right thing.
It turns out Norwood is a veteran, which makes total sense. He thought he saw someone in distress and tried to save a life, just as he'd been trained to do. And for that, we salute him.