Police Officers Rescue Three From Fiery Wreck In Back Of The Yards
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Four Chicago police officers helped save the lives of three men in the Back of the Yards neighborhood late Monday night, when the officers pulled the victims out of a burning car.
Just before 11 p.m., a Kia was speeding west in the 700 block of West Garfield Boulevard, when the driver lost control. The car struck a tree, a pole, and the fence and front porch of a brownstone.
"We seen a car traveling at a high rate of speed, at which point it crashed into a tree and the street light here, and then at that point it became engulfed in flames," said Officer Ryan Krolikowski.
Krolikowski and his partner, Eric Wicencyjusz, rushed over and pulled three young men out of the car as it caught fire. Two more officers, Ivan Romo and Mike Bunyon, who drove up to the scene after hearing about it on the radio, helped the first two officers.
The men inside the car were stuck, because airbags had deployed, and they were confined under their seatbelts. The officers cut their seatbelts to get them out.
Bunyon said it was like "something out of a movie."
"You see these poor guys trapped in the car, and you've just got to do what you've got to do. You've got to pull them out, and luckily we had seatbelt cutters, and all that stuff handy, and we were able to get them out right away, and the third guy we were able to pull out on the other side, and everything panned out. Hopefully they're okay," he said.
The victims, who all appeared to be in their late teens, were taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, where their conditions stabilized.
No one in the home was injured. The home sustained minor damage. The fence and stairs took the brunt of the damage.
"I heard a big boom, and I got up, and ran out and looked, and I saw the car in the yard, and there was smoke, and the police and the fire department both were just absolute angels. They were here right away," homeowner Beverly Ennis said.
The homeowners said this was the second crash outside their home in the past couple years.