A group of good Samaritans may have saved a man’s life early Sunday morning after they yanked the driver out of a burning vehicle.
Virginia State Police said the single-vehicle accident happened along the Powhite Parkway shortly before 3 a.m.
The driver was stuck in the burning car, according to witnesses, so a man with a hammer approached the vehicle, busted out the sunroof, and helped pull the man from the flames.
“I was lucky enough to have the hammer. But my friend and another passerby were crucial in helping to get him out,” Aaron Parks posted on the WTVR CBS 6 Facebook page. “The flames were intense. He didn’t have 15 more seconds to spare.”
In the video, you can hear the rescuers asking if anyone else was in the car.
“At first I don’t think everybody thought someone was in there, and then we heard his screams,” said Devon Farmer, who aided in the rescue.
Farmer said a minute or two after they got the driver out of the car, there was a small explosion and the flames became even more intense.
“He’s a lucky guy,” Farmer said. “I don’t know if he honestly would have made it.”
The driver was taken to VCU Medical Center, but his injuries were non-life threatening, according to police. Witnesses said the driver was visibly shaken, but seemed to be OK.’
“It’s an adrenaline thing that people get. You see that and your first reaction is you want to try to help,” said Joseph Payne, who heard the crash while he was sleeping at his nearby home. “Surly hope someone would do that for me.”
Farmer underscores his role in the rescue, and said he thinks most people would have acted like the same way.
“There’s a lot of heroes in the world; a lot people do awesome things. I think it’s just being a good human being,” Farmer said.
This story was originally published by KTLA sister station WTVR in Richmond, Virginia, and was distributed by CNN Wire.
