3 Pull NJ Driver From Flaming Car in Dramatic Rescue
By: A New Jersey man found himself trapped inside a burning car after some sort of electrical malfunction over the weekend, and police body cameras captured the rescue.
Ridgefield Park police officers dispatched to a report of a car fire on Winant Avenue around 2 am. Saturday found the victim, who is from Fort Lee, stuck inside his Honda. Flames were coming out of the front of the vehicle at the time, authorities said.
Officers couldn't open the car doors to pull out the trapped driver. A sergeant on the scene ran to his patrol vehicle and grabbed a halogen tool to try to force his way inside the car, while two other officers arrived on scene and tried to yank the driver out through the front driver's side window. But flames had started to spread within the car.
The heat was too much, authorities said. Officers used fire extinguishers to contain the flames long enough so that others could grab the driver and pull him from the passenger side of the vehicle.
Battling intense heat, broken glass and other physical barriers, three police officers from Ridgefield Park managed to pull him out -- just as flames began to consume the interior of the car, officials said. He was moved away from the flames and treated at the scene before being released to a family member, officials said.
Authorities also thanked a good Samaritan from New York, identified as Elias Rodriguez, whom they said stopped to help officers in the rescue effort.