Employees at a PNC Bank branch in Phoenix helped a longtime neighborhood food vendor and his cart get out of a severe storm last week, in a rescue caught on video that has since gone viral.
The vendor, identified as Hilario Cruz Cruz, was caught in strong winds and hail when bank staff brought him and his cart inside the branch, according to FOX 10 Phoenix. Video posted by someone inside the bank shows an employee helping Cruz Cruz pull the cart through the door as the storm battered the area.
The footage has drawn more than 1 million views on TikTok and hundreds of thousands of likes.
Cruz Cruz, speaking to FOX 10 Phoenix through a translator, described the moment he and an employee worked together to get the cart inside.
“With one hand, I held the door against the strong wind blowing it, and with my other hand I pulled the cart inside. The young man was doing the same on his side. If I had been anywhere else, maybe they wouldn’t have been able to help me like that,” Cruz Cruz said.
Cruz Cruz said the bank employees who helped him were longtime customers who had bought food from his cart for years, and he believes that relationship is why they acted.
“They said, ‘He’s not going anywhere else. He stays here, and we’re bringing the cart inside.’ I said, ‘It won’t fit,’ but the manager said, ‘I know it will,'” he said.
Cruz Cruz was left drenched by the storm and had to make his way home past fallen trees and branches once it passed.
A week later, he was back selling elotes and fresh fruit along Peoria Avenue. He said business has picked up considerably since the video spread online.
“I deeply appreciate my long-term customers. That’s why they didn’t leave me outside,” Cruz Cruz said. “I am profoundly grateful to the bank manager and employees because, thanks to them, nothing bad happened to me.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to PNC Bank for additional information.
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