By Police1 Staff
DUBLIN, Ohio — An off-duty officer risked his own life to protect citizens after a tanker exploded on a highway.
Sunbury Officer Matthew Bowman was driving when a tanker carrying 8,000 gallons of gasoline hit a guardrail, flipped on its side, and exploded, Fox News reported.
“It was pretty intense. It all happened so fast,” Bowman said. “I saw the tanker explode and it took me a minute to get off the road and out of my truck.”
Bowman, who was a firefighter for three years before becoming an officer, parked and directed drivers away from the accident, WCMH reported.
“The fire spread quickly and I wanted to make sure people stayed back – the further back they were the better,” he told Fox.
Bowman said fuel going through the overpass’s drainage system and dumping onto the bottom road was his main concern.
He said although the explosion was unlike anything he had ever seen, he was just doing his job.
“I think that it’s just normal, everyday stuff for me, being a police officer off-duty is no different than on-duty,” Bowman told WCMH. “The main concern was their safety and I thought if I could keep them safe, then I was doing my job.”
According to Fox, the explosion killed the driver of the tanker.
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