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Dramatic Rescue as Officer Pulls Driver from Burning Car

Friday, August 17, 2007

By Melissa MacBride

SOUTH LOS ANGELES, Aug. 17, 2007 (KABC-TV) (KABC) -- There's been a dramatic rescue on a Southland freeway as an L.A. police officer rushed to pull a motorist from his burning vehicle. For the driver, it was a frightening close call.

Moments after a car slammed into the center divider on the 110 freeway, its engine caught fire. The driver, still alive, was trapped -- but help was already on the scene.

LAPD Sgt. Chris Gomez saw the accident happen.

"Your first though is, 'I got to get this person out,'" said Sgt. Gomez. "Due to the fact that it was getting warm inside the compartment -- you could see the flames in the engine compartment. So immediately, your first thought is, 'I got to get him out, and also myself out of this situation, too.'"

Sgt. Gomez had to break the passenger window to rescue the driver from the burning car. The man only suffered a broken collar bone.

"He was very thankful. And he was telling me just where he was hurting, and he needed help," said Sgt. Gomez.

Before the accident happened, Sgt. Gomez had been following the driver. Gomez saw a car fly by him at 75 mph on Vernon Avenue around 2:45 a.m. Then the car headed south on the 110 freeway. Gomez thought the driver might be speeding away from a crime scene and caught up with him to get the license plate number.

It turns out the car wasn't stolen, and the driver wasn't drinking. He told Sgt. Gomez he was in a hurry to get home.

Sgt. Gomez says that before he jumped into help, he thinks the seat belt had saved the man's life. But his fellow officers are still calling him a hero.

He says it's just part of the job.

"Sure, we are there to enforce the law, but at the same time the side of the car does say we're there to 'serve and protect.'"

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