Driver rescued from burning car by Phoenix Police officers
PHOENIX - Phoenix Police released a video on March 29, showing the moment officers sprint to a burning car to save the driver.
In the video, one officer tried desperately to shatter the front window, and when that didn't work, another officer quickly grabs a fire extinguisher to get the man out. The officer then brings the man to the sidewalk and immediately starts chest compressions.
The man was eventually resuscitated and is recovering in the hospital.
Officers recall saving man from burning SUV
Officers Rudy Castillo and Joel Kaminsky are both 20-plus-year veterans. They were a half-mile away when the call went out that a car was on fire with a passenger trapped.
They sprinted to the car, but the door was locked and the window wouldn't budge.
Kaminsky says his window-break tool failed on him and cut his hand. That's when Castillo noticed some help from the homeowner where the crash happened.
"They had run out with the fire extinguisher, but it didn't work, so luckily for us, it was still there so we grabbed that and used it to break the window," Castillo said.
"You could hardly see inside the vehicle because of the dense smoke," Kaminsky said. "Officer Castillo was able to, through touch, unbuckle the gentleman, his seatbelt. We were able to get him maybe 20 feet away from the vehicle as far as distance because things started exploding in the vehicle."
Officer Kaminsky suffered a cut on his hand that required stitches. As he started to give CPR to the driver, he said the man's eyes were glossed over, but he kept at it while waiting for firefighters to respond.
"We would get a response from him maybe every minute, just something... it was working, it worked," Kaminsky said. "It was pretty amazing."
Kaminsky and Castillo said they didn't have time to think. They just responded.
Kaminsky said he didn't even notice that his hand was cut because of his adrenaline, let alone that it needed stitches until after the incident. He said he was just so focused on the chest compressions that he wasn't thinking about his own injury.
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