Good Samaritans Pull Woman From Burning Car
LAKEWOOD, Colo. (CBS4) - A woman is lucky to be alive after a courageous rescue in Lakewood. Some Good Samaritans pulled the trapped driver from her burning car Saturday after a fiery crash on W. Alameda Avenue and South Harlan Street.
Investigators worked to determine exactly what caused the crash. Police said the woman was struck by another vehicle after they believe she run a red light. Flames ignited in her car's engine compartment.
Witnesses put their own lives at risk to save her.
"We were here for a reason," said Hector Ybarra, a witness who helped pull the victim from her car.
Ybarra and his nephew Brent Swartzentruber were stopped at the light when the fiery crash happened before their eyes.
"Everybody was screaming,'Get her out of the car, get her out of the car!' because the front end of the car was on fire," said Ybarra.
He said the young woman behind the wheel was unconscious in her vehicle as flames shot up over the windshield and smoke filled the cab.
"Everybody was pounding on that glass and nobody could get in," said Ybarra.
That's when he returned to his truck to get his martial arts club and busted through the glass of the woman's car.
"(It was) just a rush of, you really have to get in there and get her out, or it's going to be on your shoulders that she died," said Swartzentruber.
He braved through thick black smoke to pull the woman out.
Police said the woman will survive, and are calling Ybarra and Swartzentruber heroes.
"It's a privilege and an honor to be in a place at the right time that," said Swartzentruber. "I feel like we're all made for something like this."
Authorities said the victim was taken by ambulance to a local hospital with non life-threatening injuries.
Investigators have not yet determined what caused the engine to ignite.
Melissa Garcia has been reporting for CBS4 News since March 2014. Find her bio here, follow her on Twitter @MelissaGarciaTV, or send your story idea to mkgarcia@cbs.com.
