Officers And Good Samaritan Pull Driver From Burning SUV After Wrong-Way Crash In Manhattan

A driver was hauled through the window of his burning SUV by police officers and a passerby after a wrong-way crash on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Washington Heights.

Footage released by the New York City Police Department shows the incident at about 1:34 a.m. on October 6. The NYPD said a good Samaritan alerted officers from the 33rd Precinct to the crash, and they raced to the scene.

Bodycam video shows the front of the dark SUV crushed and engulfed in flames beside a concrete median. One officer tries the driver’s door but can’t open it, while another stands by with a fire extinguisher. The passerby climbs onto the median and reaches down into the driver’s window as officers lift from below, and together they pull the groaning man out and drag him away from the fire.

“Is there anybody else in there?” an officer asks repeatedly once the driver is on the ground. “Nobody,” the man answers.

According to police, the driver was taken to a hospital. Police shared the footage on October 14.