An off-duty Seattle police officer pulled a motorist from a burning car Monday evening after he came upon the scene of a fiery two-car crash near Snoqualmie.
Officer JD Smith was on his way home on Interstate 90 when he noticed traffic becoming particularly congested. “I’m in the far left lane and see the backup of this pickup truck in the air,” he says. “And boom it’s on fire. I just happened to be right there.”
Officer Smith rushed over to one of the crashed cars and spotted a woman lying in the front seat, just as the vehicle began to catch fire. “I couldn’t get the door open. I just pulled ten, I dunno how many times,” he says. Then “that superhuman strength kicked in.”
With the help of a bystander, Smith was able to get the woman out of the vehicle and drag her to safety shortly before the vehicles were engulfed in flames.
Smith also credits a reserve firefighter, a retired SFD firefighter, an HMC doctor and another bystander for their assistance in rescuing and stabilizing the woman at the scene, as well as the Eastside Fire and Rescue crews who got the fire under control and treated two other people, who were injured in the crash.