The fiery crash on a hot Florida afternoon on July 4, 2012 left an unconscious man trapped in his burning car. Seemingly out of nowhere, a figure stepped out of the darkness through a curtain of flames to open the door and usher the driver to safety moments before the car exploded. Like a scene from a movie, the Independence Day hero retreated into the shadows of darkness, but it wouldn’t be the last time he would help someone in danger.

An unassuming man, Sabin Barto doesn’t talk much about his 10-plus years in the US Navy. He spends his post-military career selling Florida real estate, writing children’s books, developing a website dedicated to saving the Everglades habitat and engaging children in the environment. He seems like a pretty nice and normal guy, but his neighbors and friends claim that he is a real-life Captain America with superhero strength and courage. Captain America, because his heroics always seem to start on the 4th of July, or a few hours after.

On July 3, 2016, in Naples, Florida, Barto witnessed a car accident while driving home with her daughter after a fireworks celebration with some friends. As Sabin got out of his vehicle to help the driver and passengers, a lone police officer who had been chasing them arrived on the scene. Gun drawn, she yelled at the passenger as she tried to run away to throw herself on the ground. Assuming it was a criminal suspect, Barto saw the driver get out and run, to which he sprang into action, grabbing the driver and pinning him to the ground so the officer could properly handcuff him after taking the passenger into custody. Barto stayed with the officer until her backup arrived.

As a superhero, Sabin Barto seems to have the ability to be in the right place at the right time. That incident with an exploding car in 2012 took place right in front of his house.

All this recalls the nature of extraordinary heroism, which is often expressed in emergency situations and difficult circumstances. While most of us back off and run from danger, some, like the men and women who make up local police departments across the country, dive headlong into the jaws of possible death to save a stranger. At a time when we’re forced to remind people that Blue Lives Matter, it’s heartening to know that American exceptionalism also finds a home in the muscle, heart, and mind of Americans like Sabin Barto.