By Jeff Bahr
The Grand Island Independent
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — Grand Island police officers removed a man from a burning vehicle Monday night after the driver came to a crashing halt at Blaine and Koenig streets.
The driver, Fabian Blanco, crashed into a pole, fence and the side of a house shortly before 8 p.m.
Following the crash, the engine compartment was on fire and smoke filled the interior.
Using fire extinguishers, neighbors and police officers tried unsuccessfully to put out the fire. The vehicle’s doors would not open because they were jammed. Using an extinguisher, one of the officers smashed out the passenger side rear window.
One of the officers pulled Blanco, who was unconscious, out of the car. As the officers dragged him to safety across the street, the officers had trouble getting their footing because of ice underfoot.
Blanco, who was later arrested, wound up being treated and released from CHI St. Francis Monday night.
But his outlook could have been much worse, because the car fire couldn’t be extinguished until Grand Island firefighters arrived, said Division Chief Dean Elliott of GIPD.
Four of the Grand Island police officers will be nominated for life-saving awards.
Police say Blanco, 45, had been involved in a two-vehicle accident a few minutes earlier at a different location.
At that point, Blanco was heading west on Third Street at Locust Street. A witness reported that Blanco was traveling at a high rate of speed.
Blanco sideswiped an eastbound car that contained a 77-year-old man, Elliott said. The impact was great enough that the airbags deployed, giving minor injuries to the 77-year-old man.
Blanco did not stop after the two-vehicle accident, which occurred at 7:44 p.m. Instead he continued westbound on Third Street at a high rate of speed, Elliott said.
At 7:51 p.m., dispatchers started receiving calls about a vehicle that crashed at Blaine and Koenig. As the calls came in, the car was already on fire.
When police officers arrived, no one had gotten out of the vehicle.
The passenger compartment was so full of smoke that you couldn’t see anybody inside, Elliott said.
After the driver’s side window was broken, one of the officers reached into the vehicle and felt around until he found the driver. Space was tight because the officers were working between the house and the car.
After Blanco was treated at the hospital, he was arrested for driving under the influence, failure to stop and render aid with no serious injury and willful reckless driving — second offense.
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