In an inspiring display of courage, an Arizona woman who was trapped inside of a burning vehicle was rescued by a Chandler police motorcycle officer and an off-duty Peoria firefighter. The incident occurred on Tuesday morning near Greenfield Road where a collision involving seven vehicles shut down a portion of westbound US 60 in the Mesa. Allegedly, a cement mix truck drove into the back of a pickup driver, which started the fire. As reported by ABC15, bodycam footage from Chandler police reveals the tense moments leading up to the heroic rescue.
The video clip opens on a vehicle lying on its side in the middle of the highway engulfed in flames. A man is attempting to break one of the windows in a bid to free the woman who is trapped inside. “Here! Here! Here! Get out of the way! Get out of the way!” shouts the police officer, as he closes in on the vehicle fire. With his police baton in hand, the patrolman begins smashing the front driving seat window. After several well-aimed shots, the glass shatters, and the officer clears away the remaining shards.
Suddenly, a leg appears from out of the broken window. “Get out! Get out!” exclaims the officer. With the woman’s leg dangling out of the side window, the vehicle abruptly and violently tilts over back onto its tires. “Get her out of there!” yells the officer turning to an off-duty fireman stood next to him. “Get her out, dude.”
Bravely, the firefighter springs into action, and begins attempting to pull the victim of the crashed car through the broken window of the burning vehicle. After a few moments, he manages to pull the woman free from the wreckage. The clip ends with the law enforcement official shouting, “Is there anybody else in there? Get back from the truck!”
While the Arizona woman survived, she reportedly sustained “moderate injuries” and has since been taken to hospital for treatment. Since the incident occurred, the Chandler Police motorcycle officer has since been identified as Brian Larison. In the social media post shared by Chandler Police on X, Larison divulged:
I hit it two more times and it broke. I raked the window to try to get her out. And she started to step out, the truck fell back on all four tires. And for some reason I looked out the corner of my eye and there’s this off-duty fireman and he’s got all his fire-retardant gear on. […] So I go up and I’m like, dude, go get her, get her out. And so he got her out of the truck. […] My thought was, she’s not dying.
Brian Larison
With the heroic footage circulating online, netizens couldn’t wait to share their thoughts and well wishes with the valiant first responders. One X user commented, “Wow, courage at its finest. Thank you both first responders. Never more true.” Another, meanwhile, summed up the internet’s thoughts and feelings concisely, writing, “So grateful for the heroes that selflessly serve our community every day.”
