Police officer, Good Samaritans save 2 women from burning car in North Brunswick

ByEyewitness News WABC logo
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Police officer, Good Samaritans save 2 women from burning car in North Brunswick
Toni Yates reports on the burning car rescue in New Jersey.

NORTH BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (WABC) -- There was a dramatic rescue in New Jersey, as strangers banded together to help save two women from a burning car.



The SUV crashed into a tree in North Brunswick Wednesday. The car caught on fire with the driver and passenger trapped inside.



Luckily a police officer and Good Samaritans who witnessed the crash jumped into action.



Officer Anthony Torres's body camera was already on when he responded to the commotion he happened to see while on routine patrol.



"I was stopped at a red traffic light and noticed that there was a vehicle to the left of me, and I see two individuals hop out and start running to the left," said Officer Torres. "At that time I didn't know what was going on so I pulled forward and saw there was a vehicle that actually struck a tree."



Half a dozen Good Samaritans who saw the Honda SUV as it raced out of control into a wooded area off Route 130 at Finnegans Lane were already trying to get the driver and passenger out.



But the door would not open and the driver was stuck under her seatbelt.



Officer Torres and all the people involved sped up their help as the car began to burst into flames, and helped pull both of the women to safety.



We caught up with another one of those heroes, Joshua Sandoval, who assisted with the rescue.



"It's hard to talk about it because it was surreal, it just happened so quick," he said. "I literally ran there and seen the woman looking at me faint, and I was telling my wife, I couldn't even sleep last night."



"Everybody was coming, it was multiple people on scene helping and it was actually nice to see that, to see people run towards danger and help someone that they don't even know," said Officer Torres.



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