Off-duty Seattle officer rescues motorist from burning truck
Jul 19, 2016, 1:41 PM | Updated: 2:51 pm
The KIRO 7 News chopper was over eastbound I-90, where a total of five vehicles were involved in a crash that backed up traffic on Monday. © 2016 Cox Media Group.
An off-duty Seattle police officer pulled a motorist from a burning truck Monday evening after he came upon the scene of a fiery two-car crash near Snoqualmie.
Officer JD Smith was on his way home on Interstate 90 when he noticed traffic becoming particularly congested, according to the Seattle Police Department.
“I’m in the far left lane and see the backup of this pickup truck in the air,” he says. “And boom it’s on fire. I just happened to be right there.”
Police say Smith rushed over to the truck and spotted a woman lying in the front seat, just as the vehicle began to catch fire.
“I couldn’t get the door open. I just pulled 10, I dunno how many times,” he says. Then “that superhuman strength kicked in.”
With the help of a bystander, Smith was able to get the woman out of the vehicle and drag her to safety shortly before the truck exploded, police say.
Smith also credited a reserve firefighter, a retired SFD firefighter, an HMC doctor and another bystander for their assistance in rescuing and stabilizing the woman at the scene, as well as the Eastside Fire and Rescue crews who got the fire under control and treated two other people, who were injured in the crash.
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