2 William Paterson baseball coaches rescue 2 people from burning car in Florida

Shirleen Allicot Image
Monday, March 21, 2016
2 William Paterson baseball coaches rescue 2 people from burning car in Florida
Shirleen Allicot is live in Wayne with the story

WAYNE, New Jersey (WABC) -- Two college baseball coaches jumped into action, not on the field but off it.

Last week's team trip to Florida turned into a rescue mission for William Patterson University baseball coach Mike Lauterhahn, and assistant coach Mark Palestina.

"We were preparing dinner for the night, heard a bang and heard screaming, went outside and heard someone saying, 'dad' and saw smoke," Lauterhahn said.

The hotel they were staying at was right across the street from a fiery scene, a serious head on crash.

"I think the first thing that came to mind was the possibility of one of our players being involved. Adrenaline took over to make sure they were OK," Lauterhahn said.

In their way, was a wall which both men had to scale in order to get to the other side.

"The only option was to jump it," Palestina said.

"The woman was kind of pinned in her car, we couldn't open the door. I asked Mark to call 911 to get someone over there. I told the lady, 'What you're going to need to do right now is put your arms around me and we'll get you out and get you to safety, but we don't have a whole lot of time,'" Lauterhahn said.

"Her face was very bloody, and he basically wrapped his arms underneath her and pulled her out," Palestina said.

The other person involved in the wreck was on the ground dangerously close to the car that went up in flames.

"Mark and I put an arm under each of the shoulders, and we prepped his head so we could try to stabilize him as much as possible and get him across the street where it was safe," Lauterhahn said.

The actions of these men singlehandedly saved two lives, but they don't want to be called heroes.

"There are real heroes out there. We just kind of reacted and we hoped that if we were in a car that was on fire someone would help us," Palestina said.