By Susannah Sudborough
masslive.com
HOLBROOK, Mass. — Three Holbrook police officers rescued a driver whose clothes caught fire after a crash left him trapped in a burning car early Sunday morning, according to Holbrook police.
Around 3:20 a.m., Sgt. Martin Faherty and Officers Jonathan O’Brien and Matthew Richards responded to a report that a Jeep had caught fire after crashing on Pine Street in Holbrook, police said. O’Brien arrived first at the scene and saw that a utility pole had snapped in half, leaving low-hanging wires.
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As flames spread across the front of the Jeep, bystanders told O’Brien that the driver was trapped inside, police said. The driver tried to escape the vehicle, but the damaged dashboard pinned his right foot to the floor of the car, and his sneaker caught fire.
Video footage of the incident recorded by O’Brien’s body camera shows the officer running toward the burning car, which crashed in front of a house. The video shows flames under the dashboard where the driver’s foot is trapped. In less than a minute, Richards and Faherty reach the car, help O’Brien free the man and pull him to safety.
Firefighters extinguished the flames and treated the driver at the scene before taking him to South Shore Hospital in Weymouth with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. The rescue left O’Brien with minor burns on his fingers.
“These officers did an incredible job under dangerous conditions,” Holbrook Police Chief David Del Papa said in a press release. “The outcome would have been much different had they not arrived so quickly and acted immediately. Their quick response likely saved his life.”
The preliminary investigation into the crash determined that the Jeep struck a utility pole, a tree and a retaining wall near 206 Pine St. , police said. Several nearby properties were damaged.
Holbrook police are in the process of charging the driver, a 37-year-old Holbrook man, with operating under the influence of alcohol - second offense and negligent operation, police said. The driver will also be cited for marked lanes and speeding violations.
Police are seeking a court summons for the driver. They declined to identify him because a criminal complaint has not yet been issued by Quincy District Court.
The crash remains under investigation.
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