WEST HAVEN, Conn. -- When police officers were dispatched to a car accident on Derby Avenue early Saturday morning, they knew a vehicle was on fire. They didn't know a man was trapped inside.
With West Haven and New Haven fire crews still en route, Officers Scott Bloom and Seth Twohill knew they had to act immediately.
They rescued the man just before flames leapt onto the car's front seats.
"As far as vehicle accidents go, that's probably one of the worst I've been to," said Bloom, who has been on the force for 13 years.
Police were dispatched to Derby Avenue around 2 a.m. after a Chevy Impala driven by Rory Frazier crashed into a utility pole. When Bloom and Twohill arrived, they saw the car had bounced off the utility pole and its hood and engine compartment were split into a "V" shape and on fire.
The engine lay about 10 to 15 feet away from the vehicle, and Frazier stood next to the car on his cellphone while bleeding, Bloom said.
Officers saw the passenger, who police have not named, still in his seat. His door was too mangled to be opened, and the dashboard was at his thighs.
"We have fire extinguishers in our cars, but when we walked up to the car and saw the passenger in the car, my thought was to get him out. And fire extinguishers only hold so much, and we knew the Fire Department was coming," Bloom said.
Luckily, the driver's side door was open, giving Bloom and Twohill access to the passenger. By then the fire was spreading into the front passenger area and car floor. Though the man appeared to be conscious, he wasn't trying to move out of the car.
"We realized he wasn't going to be able to get out himself, and the fire started growing and smoke inside the driver compartment was getting thicker and thicker. We reached in through the driver's side door and started pulling him out," said Twohill, who has been with city police for around two years, and previously served with the New Haven Police Department.
They gripped him under his armpits, pulled him out, and laid him on the ground outside. When they decided he should be moved farther from the fire in case it spread, a good Samaritan from Hamden, who had been standing with a group of people gathered nearby, helped Bloom and Twohill carry the passenger.
"Shortly after we got him out of the car, the front seats caught on fire, and the Fire Department got there," Bloom said.
The passenger was bleeding from his face and chest, but officers weren't sure of his exact injuries. Both the passenger and Frazier were transported to the hospital.
Bloom and Twohill weren't injured.
At the hospital, Frazier was arrested on motor vehicle charges, including operating an unregistered motor vehicle and driving a car without insurance, said Sgt. David Tammaro.
Tammaro said the department is thankful for Bloom's and Twohill's work.
"They did an excellent job. They're credited with saving the passenger's life," Tammaro said.
The accident remains under investigation. It's not yet clear what caused the crash.
Copyright 2013 - New Haven Register, Conn.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
