New body camera video shows the moment a Colorado police officer rescued a 4-year-old girl and her mother from the family's SUV, which was hanging “precariously” over a retaining wall after a crash.
A close call was reported Tuesday evening behind a store in Boulder, where a woman driving a Lexus SUV with her daughter in the back seat crashed into a wire fence, sending the car's front wheels flying five feet into the air. I was floating in the air.
Boulder Police Officers Raquel Rey and Carlos Castro were the first to arrive on the scene and quickly took action to pull the occupants of the SUV to safety, body camera footage showed. City police announced on X.
In the edited clip, Ray could be heard repeatedly yelling “stop” as the driver continued to rev the engine toward the stranded vehicle.
After finally getting the woman's attention, Castro told her to turn off the engine and cautiously approached the back seat, where his partner caught a glimpse of “little feet.” told News Channel Denver 7.
When Castro opened the rear passenger door, he was greeted by a young girl still strapped into a car seat.
“I'll get you out,” the officer reassured the child.
The 4-year-old girl asked Mr. Castro to take her mother out, and he promised to “help her too.”
Mr. Ray reached into Mr. Castro's belt and helped him out of the SUV. A female police officer then scooped her up in her arms and took her to safety.
“Do you want to talk to the firefighters?” Ray asks the girl. “They are heroes.”
Boulder Fire Rescue, which was on the scene by then, had stabilized the front of the Lexus and the driver was able to exit through the back seat door.
The mother and daughter escaped unharmed.
“There are a lot of moving parts involved in accidents like this (literally), and vehicle extrication is a skill that BFR firefighters practice and use on a daily basis.” Boulder Fire Rescue wrote about X.
Castro later explained that he had to suppress his emotions to carry out the rescue.
“If I had reacted like a father or something like that, I probably would have approached the car when it wasn't safe and put myself in danger,” he said.
The mother, whose identity has not been released, has been charged with careless driving, reckless endangerment and child abuse, but police are now investigating whether the driver may have had a medical condition at the time of the crash.
