Georgia Sergeant Speaks Out After Pulling Man from Burning Car: ‘We Got Lucky’
Coweta County Sergeant Steven Mills said that the driver was trapped in his seatbelt when he was found in the burning car early Saturday
Sergeant Steven Mills and another officer with the Coweta County Sheriff's Office rescued a man Saturday after his Ford Edge crashed and burst into flames
Footage of the rescue shows the car becoming completely engulfed in flames moments after the driver escaped
The driver was transported to Atlanta's Grady Hospital with second and third-degree burns
A Georgia sergeant is speaking out after rescuing a man from a burning car that had crashed into a wooded area.
Authorities were alerted to the vehicle fire along Highway 154 around 3 a.m. local time on Saturday, according to ABC affiliate WSB-TV.
Georgia State Patrol said the driver of a Ford Edge appeared to approach a curve but continued straight “for an unknown reason” and went off the roadway, per the Newnan Coweta Scanner Traffic.
The car struck “multiple mailboxes and trash cans before hitting a large tree,” NCST reported.
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Upon arrival, Coweta County Sergeant Steven Mills and another officer raced to the car, the front of which was engulfed in flames. Body camera footage of the daring rescue, shared by NCST, shows him breaking the Ford’s windows to free the victim.
Mills, 32, told WSB-TV that the driver was trapped in his seatbelt when he was discovered. So the sergeant pulled out a knife and cut the belt to help him escape.
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Those with the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office are equipped with tools specifically designed to break windows and cut seat belts in dire situations like this, according to FOX affiliate WAGA-TV.
After some coaxing, the victim was finally pulled from the back of the vehicle. Mills’ body camera footage shows the back of the car becoming engulfed in flames moments after the victim was freed.
The driver was transported to Grady Hospital in Atlanta, having sustained second- and third-degree burns, NCST said.
Mills is now being praised for his heroics. When faced with an emergency like this, the sergeant said he would “forget everyone and everything around me” until the job was done, according to WSB-TV.
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“We got lucky is the way I would say it,” Mills said. “Because there are so many times we get dispatched to these calls and we’ll be just 30 seconds later, and unfortunately it would be a different story.”
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