26-year-old was seconds away from being trapped in completely flaming car — a timely call and brave action saved him
In many scenarios, technology can lead to rescues that one might describe as a "miracle." Police officers from New Jersey would agree with that after they pulled a 26-year-old man out of a burning car. The doors of the car were locked and the car was moments away from going up in flames when the officers began the rescue operation. The police department could reach the scene on time because of one simple technological intervention on the man's phone, per NBC New York.
The bodycam and dashcam footage of the incident had been released. According to the YouTube channel of City News, the driver, Safwan, was unconscious when the police found his car at the crash site. The fire was burning right under the car. So the officers present at the site had to act quickly to save Safwan's life. "I saw the driver inside. He was unconscious and bleeding severely from the head," an officer, Yash Shroff, explained. "Within minutes, the car started smoking." The officers tried to use a baton to break the car window, but it did not work. "So, I grabbed a breacher tool out of the back of my car and I smashed both the back and the front driver side window," another officer, Thomas Sites, recounted.
Safwan had suffered from a medical emergency and crashed because of that. The moment the crash happened, the two iPhones present in his car came in handy. The devices recognized the accident and sent an automatic call to 911. It also sent the location of the crash to the first responders. So officers could immediately rush to the site to check if everything was alright at that time. The car was already up in flames by the time they got there. "The flames had gotten pretty intense, so we got him out and then tried to drag him away to a safe distance from the accident," Sites went on. "We are glad we got him out. It was just in time," Shroff added.
The officers immediately took the man to the hospital after that. The man's dad, Naushad Islam, was really grateful that the officers were able to reach his son on time. "He's doing well, he's talking. When he was in the hospital, we weren't sure how he was doing. It was really, really bad," Naushad told NBC. Safwan's neck and back were injured because of the accident. He had to undergo surgery and spend a week at the hospital before he could finally go back home, per the outlet. "He's doing much better. I would say that, compared to what he went through, it's nothing but divine intervention."
"This is a miracle by every aspect of the word miracle. And the officers' actions are heroic. As you can see in the video, it's pretty dramatic how the flames are leaping at their feet as they're pulling him out. Within seconds, that scene turns...to a fully engulfed car fire. This is a miracle — a Thanksgiving miracle, I call it," the police pointed out. Naushad also wrote a letter to Shroff and Sites to express his gratitude to them for saving his son's life. "I couldn't say anything other than thank you. What else can I say? For them, it's probably the work they do every day to save everybody's life. But for me, it's getting my son back to my family, so I can't thank them enough."
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