Three police officers in Euclid, Ohio, are credited with saving the life of a man trapped in a burning truck Saturday afternoon.
The officers responded to a 911 call on Saturday morning regarding a man driving a pickup who crossed a yellow line, hit a light pole, doubled back across the road, scraping through landscaping before stopping in front of a brick building,
By the time the officers arrived, the truck was smoking and engulfed in flames, WKYC-TV reported.
"I could see the man's hand on top of the vehicle, and right then and there I radioed dispatch to have fire and rescue step it up," Euclid Police Officer Jose Alcantara told the station.
The driver, later identified as Zahrod Tolbert, was conscious but responsive so officers had to act fast and get him out before paramedics arrived.
“I immediately grabbed my fire extinguisher out of the trunk and ran to the car; smashed the passenger window to ventilate the car because the cabin was completely filled with smoke and then try to knock down the flames with the fire extinguisher,” police officer Adam Beese told WJW-TV. “I don’t think he would have been able to breathe in the car much longer due to the amount of smoke.”
After being rescued, Tolbert was taken to an area hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. Investigators said he was under the influence of drugs at the time of the crash and charged him with reckless operation of a vehicle and operating a vehicle under the influence, according to PoliceOne.com.
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