A Georgia police officer and two bystanders are credited with saving a woman and her son from her burning SUV following a multi-vehicle collision on Wednesday. The Rome Police Department released body-worn camera video of the incident in which Officer Dow Turrentine dashes toward the burning car.
Turrentine was assisting another officer on a traffic stop nearby when he heard the multi-vehicle wreck occur, reports the Rome News-Tribune. The BWC video shows Turrentine running toward the SUV as it was starting to smoke.
He used a glass break on a folding knife to attempt to break the rear window of the SUV, then quickly transitioned to using a baton to break the window.
The woman inside is heard screaming as Turrentine yells “Open the door.”
Once the officer, assisted by bystanders, was able to get the woman and child out to safety the fire grew rapidly.
He can be heard on video telling dispatchers, “We tried to use fire extinguishers on this vehicle, but it’s too engulfed.”
“It was just a pure blessing that they were there,” the rescued woman told the local newspaper after the incident.
