WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, Manhattan (WABC) — A good Samaritan and NYPD officers worked to rescue an injured driver from a burning car after a wrong-way crash on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Washington Heights.
The crash happened around 1:30 a.m. Oct. 6. as a wrong-way driver was speeding when the vehicle struck another car head-on.
James O’Connell said he had nearly been struck by the same driver before witnessing the crash.
O’Connell called 911 and remembered that he had recently passed a police car. He made a U-turn to get police and return to the crash, a process that took about three minutes.
“So my first instinct was time is of the essence — I needed to get back to them so they could get to the car which was on fire and get the victim out,” O’Connell said.
Officers broke windows, cut apart airbags and repeatedly extinguished the fire as it reignited. Rescuers faced another challenge because the driver’s side of the car was against the median, leaving only a small opening to reach the driver, who was described as more than 6 feet tall and 200 pounds.
“I was such a tight space, I didn’t have any leverage to put him over me, and that’s when I told James, ‘help me pull him out,'” Officer Feliciano Merino of the NYPD’s 33rd Precinct said.
O’Connell also helped pull the driver from the vehicle, despite breaking his wrist on a window.
“And then I went to the rear of the vehicle and broke the window with my fist and inadvertently broke my wrist,” he said.
The driver was eventually pulled from the car with extensive injuries. O’Connell said the fire intensified after the rescue.
“The minute we got him out that’s when the car started to pop and started blowing up,” Merino said.
The wrong-way driver had gotten out of the other vehicle and was on the side of the road. That driver was arrested.
O’Connell praised the officers who responded to the crash.
“Heroes, far above and beyond, 100%, risk their lives to save another life,” O’Connell said. “For me this is personal. I’m sick from 9/11, I’m currently battling cancer. I say pay it forward every day. Life is important. Everyone’s life is important.”
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