WINTHROP, MASS. (WHDH) - A Good Samaritan who sprang into action Saturday to save a 61-year-old man who was run over by his own van in Winthrop met the man he saved on Monday.
Joe Bitopoulos was reunited with 61-year-old Wagner Macedo, the man he’s credited with helping to save his life.
“We are just so thankful for Joe and for what he did. He’s definitely a hero, and he doesn’t want to take any credit but to us, he’s a hero,” said Macedo’s sister, Raquel Hazel.
Bitopoulos rushed to help Macedo in a CVS parking lot. Macedo was getting out of his van when it popped out of gear and started rolling away. He tried to stop it and his left leg was crushed.
“He saw kids across the street and the van was heading towards them. He was trying to get in the van to stop it,” said Macedo’s son-in-law, Joshua Hester.
Saturday, Bitopoulos talked to 7News about how he tried to help.
“I just looked down and saw blood everywhere,” he said. “So at first, I froze. Then I just jumped in took off my belt made a tourniquet … Yelled at some ladies to call 911 and go into CVS and get medical supplies.”
Macedo’s daughter, Sara Hester said, “My dad, the way he describes him, gets very emotional and he just says stayed with me the whole time held my hand, told him to keep talking.”
Macedo is now recovering after having part of his left leg amputated. It’s an ending his family knows could’ve been much worse.
“We’re just thankful because for me, as his daughter, the hardest part about this is to imagine my dad and that’s his circumstances are such a traumatic event to know that somebody was there with him and holding him, him just felt like he was an angel an angel for us,” Sara Hester said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help support the Macedo family.
Macedo’s daughter says she can’t wait for her and the rest of the family to meet Bitopoulos and thank him for helping her father.
(Copyright (c) 2025 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)