Denzel Washington Helps Homeless Man Evade Oncoming Traffic in Heroic Gesture

Denzel Washington to the rescue.

As the Academy Award-winning actor, 65, was driving in West Hollywood on Thursday afternoon, he saw a homeless man in the street, according to TMZ, which also obtained footage of the incident.

Washington, who was wearing a protective face mask, got out of his car and helped the man, who was not wearing a mask, to safety and stayed with him after the police arrived, per TMZ's reporting. At one point in the footage, the actor was also seen giving the man something to eat and drink.

Although police initially detained the man for unknown reasons, he was quickly released, TMZ reports.

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Years earlier, Washington also came to the rescue of actor Omari Hardwick, who became close with the screen legend's family while working as a substitute teacher and football coach at a high school attended by their eldest son.

“They gave me shelter when I didn’t have a place to stay,” he said during a 2016 appearance on The Real, explaining that Washington and his wife Pauletta stepped in after a television series he had been cast in didn’t work out. After going broke, the actor began living in his car and “showering at the YMCA.”

Rich Fury/Getty Images Denzel and Pauletta Washington

In addition to getting some help from his parents, the couple lent a helping hand to the young actor.

“Pauletta Washington paid, and this is the first time I’ve ever probably said it on camera, she paid for my car, you know, to not be taken back. They paid for it. She called and said, ‘I got to get down Denzel’s approval first, but he was like ‘all good,’” the Power star, 46, recounted.

“When I finally paid him that check back, it was big," he added. "They framed that check.”