NJ Cops Pull Man Trapped In Burning Car: See Video

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — Two South Brunswick police officers are being credited with saving the life of a man who was trapped in his burning car following a crash earlier this month.

Shortly before 3 a.m. on Nov. 9, Officers Thomas Sites and Yash Shroff were dispatched to Route 27 near Andover Road for a crash involving a car that had gone off the road and crashed in Franklin Township.

Though the incident occurred in Franklin, Sites and Shroff were the closest officers and arrived within minutes of the crash to find the driver, a 26-year-old man, unconscious in the driver’s seat.

According to police, the man was unresponsive when police found him, and the doors of the car were locked with smoke pouring out of the front.

Shroff was unable to break the window of the car with his baton. Sites retrieved his breaching tool from his patrol car as flames began to show from the front of the car. Sites then smashed the back passenger’s side window, hoping to unlock the door. After smashing the driver’s side window, he reached through the broken glass and unlocked the door, police said.

As Sites opened the driver’s side door, flames approached his feet from the undercarriage of the vehicle. Sites and Shroff were then able to pull the driver out of the car.

Within seconds of the driver being saved, flames consumed the front of the car, police said.

The officers then dragged the heavily injured driver further away from the vehicle to a safe location, and within minutes, police said the entire car was engulfed in flames.

Footage of police rescuing the driver can be seen here: (If video cannot be viewed in the Patch app, a link to it can be found here)

“I have watched the video, and it is the definition of heroic,” South Brunswick Police Chief Raymond Hayducka said. “The driver is severely injured, trapped, and his car is on fire. The fire was quickly spreading and appeared to be almost at Officer Sites' feet when they are able to free the driver.”

“It is the split-second actions of these officers that this 26-year-old is alive today,” Hayducka continued.

Following the crash, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital EMS brought the driver to the hospital. According to police, he was initially listed as critical, but is now improving in stable condition.

The fire was extinguished by Little Rocky Hill, Griggstown, and Rock Hill Fire Departments.

An investigation into the crash is being handled by the Franklin Township Police Department.