When Jason Triplett saw a Boston police wagon stuck in the snow, he couldn’t just “let it go.” The 37-year-old attorney, who was dressed as Elsa from "Frozen," ran outside and began pushing the vehicle, eventually freeing it from a snowbank.
“Imagine my shock when I turned around and I saw Elsa pushing a police truck out of the snow,” Christopher Haynes told TODAY. "I sat there for a minute before I realized what was happening."
Haynes, who was at the pub The Gallows, captured the moment in a video that he shared on Facebook. So far, it’s been viewed more than 4 million times.
“I just want people to have fun with it,” Haynes said of the video's overnight success.
TODAY reached out to Triplett but has not heard back (possibly because he's still thawing out).
In the video, Triplett hikes up his dress and crouches down to really dig in to push.
“Jason is a big guy. He might be like 6’2” or something. He is a tall, big guy and is probably not someone you would mess with,” Haynes said. "That’s why he probably thought he could get away with wearing that dress."
As Triplett shoves the wagon, bar patrons cheer.
“Let him goooooo!” a man shouts, as people laugh.
“The hero we didn’t deserve,” someone else says.
Earlier in the night, Triplett and his friends came into the bar and Haynes approached him. He wondered why the man was dressed as Elsa. Triplett said he wanted to stand out. Like others in Boston, he felt stir-crazy from the snow from the late-season nor’easter and thought he might get his friends to laugh dressed as the ice queen.
“It was kind of like we are kids again and this is our snow day,” said Haynes of the colorful South End neighborhood where Elsa saved the day.
While Haynes feels guilty that he didn’t help, he said it was because he thought Triplett had it under control. Every time it looked like Triplett needed assistance the truck lurched forward, and Haynes believed Triplett had freed it.
“It was so funny because he was clearly giving directions to the cops,” Haynes said.
When Triplett finally frees the wagon, everyone shouts “Yay!” and “Elsa!”
As the truck drives off, he faces the bar and curtsies several times like any true queen.
“He got a standing ovation. I hope someone bought him a drink,” Haynes said.