A group of good Samaritans rescued a driver who was trapped in his car when it burst into flames along Interstate 94 in Minnesota on Thursday.
The crash occurred around 6:30 p.m. near Snelling Avenue in St. Paul, when a Honda SUV left the road, struck a utility pole and burst into flames, the Minnesota Highway Patrol said.
Kadir Torra, one of the good Samaritans who ran towards the erupting flames to help, said: FOX9 Minneapolis He was on his way to meet a customer when he passed the burning wreck.
“He was awake,” Torra said of the driver. “He was telling me to pull me, pull me, pull me.”
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Thora and several other good Samaritans were unable to open the car door due to a guardrail. (Kadir Tolla via FOX9 Minneapolis KMSP)
Thora described how the flames “hit him in the face” as he and several others tried to rescue the man. However, the driver’s side door was blocked by a guardrail and could not be opened fully.
Footage from Torra’s car camera shows him grabbing a piece of discarded plastic from the road and desperately trying and failing to break the driver’s window.
After the highway worker broke the window, Thora and other good Samaritans pulled the driver out the driver’s side window. (Kadir Tolla via FOX9 Minneapolis KMSP)
As flames continued to attack the trapped driver, highway crews arrived and broke the window, allowing good Samaritans to pull the man to safety.
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Torra called the situation “the scariest moment” of his life and told the station he would never forget what happened that day.
Officials said the car veered off the road and hit a utility pole, causing a fire. (Kadir Tolla via FOX9 Minneapolis KMSP)
“Maybe someday I’ll be like that,” he told FOX9. “What would happen if I were in that situation and my life was in the hands of a stranger I don’t even know?”
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Police said the driver did not suffer serious injuries, but paramedics took him to Regions Hospital for medical evaluation.
