A Good Samaritan was hailed as a hero Tuesday after pulling an incapacitated driver out of his wrecked car seconds before it burst into flames.
Charles Parry was waiting for a Costco gas station to open in Edison, N.J., when he saw a car careen around the parking lot, jump a few curbs and barrel into a PetSmart sign, the 49-year-old recounted later.
“I thought maybe he was upset because he wasn’t first in line,” he told radio station WKXW FM, New Jersey 101.5. “He circled around and did a loop around my car at full speed. He made a beeline for the Walmart and Pet Smart sign into the concrete foundation at full speed.”
Parry could tell the accelerator was floored as the erratic driver skidded and crushed some traffic cones before slamming into the sign.
“The car was airborne at one point,” he told CBS News.
When it came to rest, Parry sprang into action, running toward the car while calling 911 as smoke and then flames started coming from under the hood, he said. He struggled to pull the man’s seatbelt over his head, impeded by the airbag. When it was halfway down the man’s face, Parry wrapped his arms around him and yanked him out of the car as the flames and smoke intensified, he recounted.
The ad hoc rescuer then dragged the man a few feet away and protected him as the car burst into flames intense enough to burn the sign it was wedged against.
The 75-year-old victim was diagnosed with neurodegenerative disorders and had crashed due to a medical episode, Edison Police Chief Thomas Bryan told WKXW, adding that the driver had been treated and released.
Parry said he was fine despite inhaling a bit of smoke, and said he had simply done what anyone else would have. He also extolled the virtues of his recent 50-pound weight loss and conversion to gym rat.
“It’s kind of hard to do it when you’re out of shape,” he told the radio station of his heroic feat. “I’ll be quite honest with you. I don’t know how this would have gone about a year ago.”
