He skipped his job interview to pull a badly injured man from a burning car

After a stint in prison, Aaron Tucker was looking to turn his life around.

Within seven days of being released, Tucker, a Bridgeport, Connecticut, native, landed a job interview, hoping to support himself and his 21-month-old son, CBS News reported.

While he was riding a city bus to the interview on July 13, a car slammed into a tree and flipped over in front of the bus, according to CBS News.

Tucker told the New York Daily News that he was immediately concerned about the driver, especially since the car was smoking.

However, the bus driver said he needed to stick to his route regardless of the crash.

“I said I was going to help him, and asked the driver if he was going to wait for me and he said, ‘no, I am going to leave you,’” Tucker told the New York Daily News.

Tucker told the New York Daily News that he immediately went to help the victim

“I saw a lot of smoke coming from the car and I just jumped off the bus and ran to the car,” he said.

Once Tucker reached the car, he realized the driver was bleeding profusely from his head, so he unbuckled the man’s seat belt and separated him from the car as it began to catch fire, the New York Daily news reported. Tucker wasn’t alone as others from a local car shop ran by with an extinguisher to help.

Tucker took off his shirt, which was given to him just for the interview, and used it to help stop the man from bleeding, the New York Daily News reported.

"You're going to be all right," Tucker repeated to the man as they lay on the pavement, the New York Daily News reported. "Your family wants to see you. Keep your eyes open."

Soon afterward an ambulance arrived and took the driver to a local hospital, where he is listed in stable condition, according to Westport News.

While many in the town regarded Tucker as a “hero,” he said it was just the right thing to do and that he wasn’t concerned about the job interview that he sacrificed.

“It didn’t go through my head, because a job can come and go, but a life is only one time. The only thing running through my head is that person in the car could pass away and I could help him,” he told the New York Daily News.

A GoFundMe campaign was started to help Tucker out, and as of Sunday, it has raised nearly $45,000, with the goal only being $35,000.

CBS News reported that since the story has gained some attention, Tucker has gotten multiple job offers and a local Connecticut business owner donated a suit to Tucker.

Tucker said he would put the money towards his son.

"I got locked up three weeks before my son was born," Tucker told CBS news. "When he was born, I got a phone call from the hospital. I heard my son crying in the background, and right then and there I was like, 'I'm changing my life.'"

This story was originally published July 16, 2017 at 1:38 PM with the headline "He skipped his job interview to pull a badly injured man from a burning car."