James Farmer Jr., a 62-year-old veteran of the U.S. Army, paid the ultimate price for saving a life when he stopped an assault on two young men.
Farmer was sleeping in his car in Curtis Park, Denver, on June 16 when he heard a commotion. He went to check out what was going on when he saw a man beating two teenagers. He stepped in to stop the assault.
The attacker, DeJuan Stamps, a homeless 28-year-old man, turned his attention to Farmer and beat him to death.
When police arrived, they found Farmer lying on the ground and Stamps standing over him “continually striking the victim in the chest with force,” the police report stated.
The officers confronted Stamps who rushed them and managed to injure one of them before he was subdued.
Stamps faces multiple charges, including first-degree murder.
Both of the teens were transported to hospital. One of them, 18-year-old Aidan Brown, was left unconscious from his injuries and had to get staples in his head.
“He surely would’ve died had [Farmer] not intervened,” Wes Brown, Aidan’s father, told Denver 7.
The attack happened near Saint Francis Center, which offers services to the homeless. Stamps was banned from the center for his behavior.
Farmer was homeless himself, living out of his car. But he was known as a hard working man willing to help others, according to Andrew Spinks, the center’s development director.
