Dramatic video shows a fast-acting Texas cop pull a suspected drunk driver from her burning car in a wild scene the officer said felt “like a movie.”
The female driver can be heard screaming and crying in pain from the front seat as Officer Tyler Ingram of the Mesquite Police Department sprints toward the car as its increasingly engulfed in flames on the side of the highway, bodycam footage of the rescue shows.
Ingram, knowing he has only seconds to save her, frantically tries to open the door but can’t initially as smoke fills the car as the flames grow higher. He asks her if her leg is stuck, to which she groans back that she’s “just in pain.”
Ingram was able to force the door open seconds later and yank her out by her arms. The woman’s face appears to be bleeding as he and another officer drag her safe distance from the fire as the car completely goes up in flames.
“We answer a lot of action-packed calls here, but this was more like a movie scene,” Ingram told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.
Ingram was monitoring traffic along I-30 just after midnight on Sept. 30 when he heard the crash from the other side of the highway and sped his car over to help.
“As I got closer, I could hear a female screaming inside,” he said. “When I was at the driver’s door, the flames were starting to crawl from the front to the passenger compartment.”
“I tried to pull her up. It took me a minute to find the door handle. It was bent so I just bent it open a little bit more and was able to pull her out.”
Once she was a safe distance from the fire, Ingram applied a tourniquet to a wound on the woman’s leg.
The woman, who is expected to make a full recovery, was charged with driving while intoxicated.
“Drinking and driving do not mix. One decision can lead to tragedy in seconds,” the Mesquite Police Department said in a statement.
“We’re thankful no one else was hurt in this crash, and we urge everyone to make the right choice: plan a ride, call a friend, or use a rideshare.”
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