South Los Angeles man reunites with hero deputies

SOUTH LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A South Los Angeles man reunited Friday with two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies who saved his wife's life.

Lincoln Cowan, 87, was woken up by a smoke alarm around 3 a.m. and walked into the front room full of fire. Because the windows in their complex are so high, his 85-year-old wife Jerlene couldn't get out.

"I really got serious. I thought that was it," Lincoln said.

But at that moment, Deputies Nick Graham and Jimmy Moore happened to be driving nearby and saw the smoke. When they located the source, they saw Lincoln standing outside the window of a burning home with his wife inside of it.

"Definitely pretty urgent. She was a little bit older, so we knew she needed to get out of the smoke," Moore said.

Moore put Jerlene into a big bear hug and pulled her to safety. She suffered only minor smoke inhalation.

Lincoln calls them heroes, a title that the deputies deny.

"No. Just doing what anyone else would have done given that opportunity," Moore said.

"I don't consider myself a hero, no... This is what I do. It's what I signed up for," Graham said.

The Red Cross is helping the Cowan's out, and they'll be staying in a hotel while their home is repaired.

The Cowans say they were able to salvage some things from inside the home, but the most important things, Lincoln and his wife, are both safe thanks to two brave officers.