The town of Bristol has a superhero in its midst.
He has no superpowers. He wears no cape. But Alcido ‘Chris’ DaLuz — aka, “The Portugese Hero” — uses the talents he does have to try to make his community a better, safer place to live. On any given night, you may find him taking on that mission himself, patrolling Bristol’s streets.
“No need to fear, the Portuguese hero is here,” Mr. DaLuz writes in his mission statement on Facebook. “Not only do I stop crime but I also stop theft, stalkers and rape. I walk the streets in my town to protect!”
His mission seems to be catching on. He joined Facebook in October as The Portuguese Hero and already he’s gathered nearly 30,000 “likes” on a page that contains an eclectic mix of posts and reposts of superhero-related images, inspirational quotes, risqué photos of women dressed in superhero costumes, and other random posts. He also has another 2,765 followers on his personal Facebook page.
At 27 years old, Mr. DaLuz said his desire to help others began long ago, when at 8 or 9 years old, his classmates started to bully him. Suffering with asthma, the medication he took to control that ailment made him gain weight — and that made him a target of bullies.
Even as an adult, the affect of bullying is still with him.
“Since I’ve been bullied, I always wanted to help people,” he said.
The taunts, he said, lasted into his high school years. As a result, Mr. DaLuz dropped out of school rather than endure the daily abuse.
“I was afraid. I’d stick up for myself but they thought they were better than everybody,” he said. “My friends stuck up for me, but they didn’t want to get bullied.”
He studied martial arts for a while, learning self-control and gaining the confidence to defend himself from the pushing and shoving he endured. He remembers the bullies and the abuse they gave him, but, like a true storybook hero, he now chalks it up to an obstacle he had to overcome.
From that experience, a desire to help others grew, Mr. DaLuz said. He wanted to become a police officer, but not having a high school diploma held him back, so he’s trying to find other ways to help the community.
A couple years ago, Mr. DaLuz was the first on the scene of a drunk driver accident on Metacom Avenue. The female driver was bleeding, he said. He comforted her and called 9-1-1. “She said ‘you’re an angel,’” Mr. DaLuz recalled.
From then, Mr. DaLuz felt good about helping others. Since he doesn’t drive, his walks are more than transportation. They are an opportunity to look out for his friends, his neighbors and for his community.
On his walks, he becomes “The Portuguese Hero,” a name he gave to himself to share his belief that everyone has a responsibility to look out for one another.
“I don’t go out there in tights,” he said, laughing. “They won’t look good on me.”
While on his walks, he’s not necessarily looking for trouble, but if he sees something that doesn’t look right, he’s not afraid to get involved.
On one recent walk, he noticed two cars parked alongside each other. The people were passing what appeared to be a “joint” between them. As Mr. DaLuz got closer, he noticed that one of the women appeared to be pregnant. The other had a child in a car seat in the backseat, and a man was in the front.
Mr. DaLuz walked up to the cars and got involved.
“You can’t to this, you’re pregnant. It’s going to hurt the baby,” Mr. DaLuz said he told the women.
Mr. DaLuz said he was nervous, but he said he knew he was doing the right thing. “The boyfriend acted all tough, but he ended up taking off,” Mr. DaLuz said.
While his actions don’t necessarily require the strength of a superhero, they do require the strength not to simply look the other way when something seems wrong.
“Nobody really wants to do that,” he said.
On his journey of good will, Mr. DaLuz’s deeds are not just about stopping crimes and instilling good judgment in others. He also heads into Providence, where he brings comfort to homeless people and, on one occasion, even helped an elderly woman cross the street.
While Mr. DaLuz’s intentions are good, the attention he’s brought to himself via his Facebook posts have also gained the attention of the Bristol Police Department. One photo in particular, showing Mr. DaLuz and unidentified friends posing with a cache of weapons — guns, knives and swords.
“The police asked me to come to the station,” Mr. DaLuz said. “We talked and I told them what I do. They asked me to join the citizens police academy.”
But even The Portuguese Hero knows his limitations.
“I don’t carry any weapons. If someone pulls a gun, well, I don’t have superpowers or anything like that,” Mr. DaLuz said. “I don’t want to get in over my head.”
But what he does envision is much more attainable, and heroic.
“If one person can change 100 lives, imagine what 100 people can do,” he said. “I haven’t changed 100 lives yet, but I’m getting there little by little.”