By Jessica De Leon
The Bradenton Herald
BRADENTON, Fla. — When an off-duty deputy passed by a car parked on the shoulder of Moccasin Wallow Road, something just didn’t look right, he said.
When Deputy Willie Finklea turned back and approached the car, he quickly realized two people were trapped inside of a burning car.
Neil Cook, 64, was banging on the door saying that he and his 65-year-old wife, Claudia, couldn’t get out because the doors were stuck.
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Finklea grabbed the door handle and began to yank, but it came off in his hand. Without hesitation, he parked his motorcycle a safe distance, told his wife to call 911, walked back to the car, shot out a back window and helped each of them out to safety.
While saving the couple from tragedy was gratifying and rewarding, Finklea feels he and his wife were just agents of God to be there at that moment.
“That’s not our usual route,” Kinklea said Tuesday afternoon. “We rarely go that way, but that day we went that way.”
It was just before 2:30 p.m. Sunday when Kinklea and his wife were riding his motorcycle on their way home from their church in Bradenton. They had stopped for something cold to drink at a gas station on the corner of US 41 and Moccasin Wallow Road, and then decided to take Moccasin Wallow Road east to go home.
“I just thought it was somebody looking at their GPS and didn’t realize the grass was catching on fire,” Kinklea thought when he first saw the burning car.
The electronic windows and door locks would not work and the car began to smoke more before Kinklea was able to force his way into the car.
“I banged on the window several times with my hand and then I had to use my off-duty weapon to put a hole in the back glass and kick the window in so I could unlock the door from the inside,” Kinklea said.
The 14-year veteran cautiously faced the back of the car and aimed down when he fired his gun to minimize glass fragments from hitting them.
Claudia Cook was trying to climb into the backseat so Kinklea went around the car, helping to pull her out. Neil Cook was able to crawl to the passenger side and open a front door to get out on his own, according to the release.
Never fearing for his own safety, Finklea was fueled by the Cooks’ panic.
“I need to get these people out of this car, whatever it takes to get them out of this car,” he remembered thinking.
No one was injured.
He thanked God he was able to help them, and Finklea said being able to do so was the biggest gift from the near tragedy.
Finklea said he did learn a lesson that day: the importance of everyone carrying a window break tool. The deputy said he was going to make sure there is one in every one of his family’s vehicles.
“Breaking the window is harder than you think,” Finklea said.
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©2017 The Bradenton Herald (Bradenton, Fla.)