North Texas hero saves two lives after spending 20 years in prison

An Ellis County man was in the right place at the right time and saved someone’s life – and then six weeks later, he did it again.

In August, Jacob Bell saved a drowning swimmer at Lake Waxahachie, and then in early October, he pulled a man from a burning car after a crash.

Long before any of this, Bell was sentenced to 35 years in prison. He made the decision to change his life, and because of that, he was able to save two others.

“Makes me feel like a hero,” Bell told NBC 5.

If anyone has earned the right to say that, it’s Jacob Bell. This month, the North Texan was driving a truck in rural Comanche County when he encountered a crash scene.

“Caught on fire, it was upside down next to another telephone pole,” said Bell.

Moments earlier a driver had crashed off the road and their car had broken out in flames. Bell told NBC 5 that instinct took over.

“For me, I didn’t even think about it,” said Bell. “I knew I could physically get him out of there, and I was going to do it.”

He smashed in the car window and was able to pull out the driver, a 72-year-old man who wasn’t breathing.

“I felt for a pulse, I pulled him out and kind of got him on the ground and felt for a pulse, I couldn’t feel anything,” said Bell. “I started CPR on him. And after maybe five or 10 seconds, I could feel a faint pulse.”

At the scene, the man started to breathe again. Suffering from smoke inhalation, Bell was taken with the driver to the hospital in Fort Worth.

NBC 5 spoke with the man rescued, who said he was still suffering from broken ribs but will recover.

“It’s been pretty amazing, the randomness of it,” said Bell.

Bell wasn’t just talking about this rescue. Six weeks earlier, he was on a boat at Lake Waxahachie when he saw a teen girl struggling in open water. He jumped in and saved her, swimming the girl back to shore.

Bell also recovered the body of 21-year-old Lincer Lopez, who had fallen beneath the waves.

“I’m still dealing with a lot of that,” said Bell. “The fact that Lincer lost his life that day is still heartbreaking.”

Bell said he’s still been working through feelings of anxiety after these traumatic incidents, but he was proud of both acts of heroism – because only a few years ago, they would have seemed impossible.

“I got charged with a burglary in 1996, and they gave me 35 and a half years,” said Bell.

Jacob Bell spent 20 years in prison and could have still been there today. He committed to changing his life, leaving prison six years ago, and now has a wife and child. After all this, maybe the most important rescue Bell made was himself.

“Spent most of my life thinking that I was just a nobody, and a castaway, never was going to get my self-worth back,” said Bell. “And this has really shown me that it’s possible to give back and to feel good about yourself, and that means something.”