
DATE: Sunday, September 28, 1997            TAG: 9709260348

SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 08   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LEWIS KRAUSKOPF, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  106 lines

FUNERAL OF MUTUAL FRIEND LED TO RESCUE OF ELDERLY COUPLE CITY CITES MEN WHO EVACUATED HOME THAT WAS ON FIRE AFTER LEAVING SERVICE FOR MURDER VICTIM.

Anthony Stateman and Robert Walker didn't know each other before Jermaine L. Faison was killed.

Faison - who was shot to death last month in Portsmouth - had been Stateman's best friend, Walker's cousin.

But only when the two came to make preparations for Faison's funeral did the two meet.

Because of Faison's death, however, the two men now have another bond as well.

On Aug. 16 after Faison's funeral, Walker, Stateman, Stateman's brother Gregory, and their friend Tyrone Williams, were sitting outside Stateman's Owens Village apartment when a fire broke out down the street.

The four men rushed over to the Geneva Street apartment, where two handicapped people lived, and helped put out the fire and save their lives.

Since then, the men have been honored for their heroic deeds. They were given the award of merit from the Chesapeake Redevelopment and Housing Authority, which recognized them ``because of the brave act of heroism and concern for their neighbors exhibited by these young men.'' The Chesapeake City Council then recognized them in council chambers.

Someone else who should be remembered, the men say, in the fire rescue is Jermaine Faison. None of them likely would have been in Owens Village - a 56-unit public housing community - that afternoon had they not gathered for such a sad occasion.

``Had it been a normal Saturday, nobody would have been around,'' said Lorraine Donald, Faison's mother, who lives nearby on Geneva Street. ``It was like the funeral was an asset.''

Last Friday, Walker returned to Stateman's Geneva Street home, and the two men recounted how Jermaine Faison's death saved lives:

On the afternoon after the funeral, the men were sitting outside Stateman's home at 616 Geneva Ave., playing cards, relaxing and telling stories about Faison.

Then Stateman's wife, Deanna, saw flames coming from down the street on 626 Geneva Ave., and alerted the men.

``We were just reminiscing, playing some cards - doing what you do normally after a funeral,'' Anthony Stateman said. ``It was like, `Bam!' do what you have to do.''

The four men rushed down the street, where Stateman knew a handicapped couple, Shirley and James Cuffee, lived.

They helped James Cuffee, who is blind, out of the house, where flames had engulfed the living room.

Walker entered the house, where he had to walk through a wall of flames before finding Shirley Cuffee in the bedroom.

Cuffee has respiratory problems and has to be hooked up to an oxygen machine all the time. She also is heavy and has leg problems, both of which severely hinder her mobility.

So when Walker came into the bedroom, he began to pull Cuffee toward the window, away from the flames and smoke.

But he could only pull her a little before the heat and smoke overwhelmed him. He went outside, and Gregory Stateman replaced him inside the burning house.

``She was yelling, `Y'all help me, don't let me die in here,' '' Stateman said.

Meanwhile, Tyrone Williams pulled out the air conditioning unit from the bedroom window, and he and Anthony Stateman began trying to force the smoke out of the bedroom using a fan.

For Stateman in particular, this was no small task. Last year, Stateman underwent a tracheotomy, a surgery that left him with a hole at the base of his throat. The operation cost him his voice, and he breathes only out of the hole.

Being exposed to so much smoke took its toll on Stateman, who coughed up black phlegm for days after the fire.

Walker, too, had black saliva coming from his nose in the days following the fire. He and Gregory Stateman went in and out of the bedroom three times each during the fire before pulling Cuffee close enough to the window.

Each time Gregory or Walker went out, Williams or Walker's cousin from Seattle, Anthony Faison, would spray them with a hose. They also used hoses to spray Cuffee inside the bedroom and to douse the flames from the living room.

By the time the fire department had arrived, the fire was almost out.

Shirley Cuffee credits the men for helping save her life.

``I haven't seen them or met them yet,'' Cuffee said last Friday. ``But I sure would like to thank them for what they did.''

The rescue has had different effects on Stateman and Walker. Stateman has been congratulated many times by his Owens Village neighbors, including getting honored at his church.

``My kids think he's a big hero,'' Deanna said.

Walker lives in Norfolk, where his deed received less notoriety, and he doesn't bring it up unless asked.

``It just happened,'' Walker said of the rescue.

Both men, however, still share their memories of Faison. Stateman wears Faison's black leather Dallas Cowboys hat, which Donald gave him. The word ``Chic'' - Faison's nickname - is written in marker on the bill.

Walker recalls the last time he saw Faison - at his grandmother's house where the two had their pictures taken because they hadn't seen each other in a while.

Now the two have one more memory linked to Faison.

``I lost my best friend,'' Stateman said. ``We got to save another.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS

Jermaine Faison, who was shot to death last month in Portsmouth, had

been Anthony Stateman's best friend and Robert Walker's cousin.

Anthony Stateman, left, and Robert Walker, along with two friends,

rescued a couple from this burned house in the 600 block of Geneva

Avenue. The effort was particularly risky for Stateman, who had a

tracheotomy last year.