By Suzie Ziegler
NEWARK, N.J. — A caravan of off-duty first responders became a heroic calvary on Sunday when they came across a serious crash along the New Jersey Turnpike.
According to the Daily Voice, corrections officer and Wood-Ridge firefighter Daniel O’Beirne was riding his motorcycle when he saw an SUV sitting in an embankment. Behind him, driving his personal vehicle, was Wood-Ridge Police officer Mark Torsiello with Rutherford volunteer EMT Walter Rogers. And behind them was corrections officer Chris Araujo.
All three vehicles pulled over and the four first responders jumped into action.
“All we could hear was screaming, but no one was getting out,” Torsiello told the Daily Voice.
They found three women trapped in the backseat of the vehicle with the airbags deployed. A fourth victim had managed to get out. The SUV appeared to have hit a tree before tumbling down the slope, according to the report.
O’Beirne called 911 before he and the other first responders lifted the first victim out of the car. Rogers used a first aid kit – that someone happened to have at the scene – to clean and wrap the cuts to one woman’s leg. Police arrived on scene minutes later, Rogers said.
“I did exactly what I signed up to do every day,” Rogers told the Daily Voice. “Help others in need.”
O’Beirne agreed: “Helping others has always been second-nature to me. I love having the tools to do it.”