LOS ANGELES (WSVN) — A car burst into flames on a Los Angeles highway and one man found himself trapped inside.
Video taken by another driver shows several others pulled over, trying to help the man inside the car engulfed in flames. “Get him out of there,” screamed one bystander. “Is there anybody else in the car?”
As the flames grew higher, one man could be seen hopping over the center median toward the burning car. That man was Los Angeles Police officer Donald Thompson.
Thompson said he was driving into work when he saw the car slam into the concrete barrier. “Really hard. Hits it. Bounces off of it,” said Thompson to a reporter. “After it hit, a huge ball of fire.”
The officer said he knew the driver was trapped. “There was fire. Fire was everywhere,” he said. “What you instinctively want to do is turn around and just run away because you’ve got pain, you’ve got all of this heat.”
The driver was unconscious inside the car and Thompson said he couldn’t get his seatbelt off. “You never gave up,” said the officer. “Reached around the door and grabbed him, pulled him out of the car. He weighed over 200 pounds, but he was so light. He felt like he only weighed an ounce or two. Adrenaline is absolutely amazing.”
“Wow, they saved that guy’s life,” one person can be heard saying while taking video of the rescue.
The man was carried to safety. Officials said he suffered a medical emergency, causing him to black out. “I was shocked. I was dismayed. I didn’t know where I was,” said the victim Bill McWhorter.
Although he suffered burns and couple of cracked ribs, he said he’s just happy to be alive. “It’s difficult to be unhappy when you’re grateful,” said McWhorter.
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