On January 31, 2025, Andre Howard Jr. picked up his three children from school. Every Friday, they have a tradition of going to Dunkin Donuts after school. However, this weekly ritual was put on hold when a medevac jet crashed nearby.
The crash killed all six on board, including a mother and daughter returning home to Mexico after medical treatment. Andre described “A really loud boom, and we saw a fireball that covered the whole entire sky.” He told CNN that he put his car in reverse to avoid debris. He could see cars consumed in flames, a man on fire, and people flying through the air. But, in the middle of all the panic and chaos, Andre heard his 10-year-old son, Andre Howard III, tell his four-year-old sister, Ayura, to get down.
After Andre Howard III did this, he dove on top of his sister, shielding her from any flying debris. When Howard checked the car’s back seat to ensure everyone was okay, he saw his daughter and other son perfectly fine. But, when he looked at Andre, he was unconscious, and there was a piece of metal from the plane sticking out of his head.
“I see my unconscious son with a piece of metal in his head. I got out of the truck and put a sock in his head, and as I moved him, the metal piece fell, and he was gushing out blood,” Howard stated. He said a man came over to him and gave him a shirt to help stop the bleeding, and a woman looked after the other children while Howard tended to Andre.
Howard quickly rushed Andre to the hospital. The medical team explained to Howard that there was a possibility of Andre never being able to walk again, and his vision could be damaged. “They gave us the roundup of everything that could happen,” Howard told CNN. After surgery and a CAT scan, Andre was transferred to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Ever since he has been transferred, he has been making a stable recovery. The doctors said he would be able to walk and see, just like nothing happened. Howard said when Andre woke up the first thing he asked was, “ ‘Did I save her from the crash?’ ” Howard told CNN, “Andre is my superhero,” Howard said. “As a dad, I’ve always instilled in them [his two sons] to protect your sister when daddy is not around. And I’m grateful to have a son like Andre.”
