Mesa Police Lieutenant, neighbor save man from apartment fire who wasn't able to escape on his own

Body camera footage was released from a Mesa Police officer responding to an apartment fire and saving a man’s life with the help from a neighbor.

MESA, Ariz. - Body camera footage was released from a Mesa Police officer responding to an apartment fire and saving a man’s life.

Mesa Police Lt. Brian Soller just happened to be driving down Main Street in Mesa when he saw an apartment building engulfed in flames. He immediately rushed over to the building, and he saved a life that day.

Mesa PD blurred the bodycam footage, but the images might still be graphic for some people.

Intense moments are shown from Soller's bodycam footage, including the moment he pulls a man who is disabled out of the flames and to safety.

"I open the door and I try to get in, and I get about 3 or 4 feet in, and it's just overwhelming heat, overwhelming smoke," Soller said.

He knew he had to find another way in.

"I could see him in there. I started smashing the window. I think he started smashing the window. I picked up a rock and was trying to get the shards of window off the window sill, so we didn't cut him too bad," Soller said.

He starts pulling, but just can't get the man out. His partner was off helping the other people who were escaping, and that's when he says a neighbor stepped in and made all the difference.

"A gentleman in an orange shirt comes running over, and he grabbed him and I looked at him and said, 'We got one shot here. If we don't get him out, we're gonna watch him die,'" Soller recalled.

It's something Soller knew he couldn't let happen.

"It's heart-wrenching when you think there's a human being in there, and you can't help him," Soller said.

The two managed to free him and firefighters were able to stop the bleeding from the man's arm cut by shards of glass on the way out. About 20 people made it out of the fire and they didn't lose a single person that day.

It was truly a time when every second mattered.

"A couple seconds later, it might have been too much smoke to see that he was inside that window," Soller said. "Seconds matter, and luckily I just happened to be at the right place at the right time."