Good Samaritans Pull Man From Burning Car
SARTELL, Minn. (WCCO) -- Good Samaritans were the difference between life and death Tuesday morning for a driver in Stearns County. Three passers-by stopped when they saw smoke coming from a car in someone's yard.
Just after 10 a.m., 27-year-old Aaron Fleck drove off County Road 1, the Stearns County Sheriff's Department says.
"Evidentially he came across here, had a seizure," said neighbor Dave Theisen.
The vehicle went off the road and through three yards, hitting trees and finally stopping once it hit a large oak tree. Then, it started on fire.
Jodi Pappenfus and John Russel were the first to see the crashed car.
Russell called 911 while Pappenfus tried to get Fleck out of the burning car.
"I got the door open, and he kind of started coming out of the car, but his seatbelt was on," Pappenfus said. "The steering wheel was pushed so tight into him I couldn't get into the car to get him out."
A third Samaritan grabbed a knife to cut the driver's seatbelt to release Fleck from the flames.
"Just when we were pulling him from the car, maybe 20 feet, the car just blew up. Fire as high as the tree," Pappenfus said. "If we would have been any later, the car would have been engulfed in flames and we wouldn't have been able to save him."
Pappenfus and Russell say they aren't heroes, but just did what needed to be done.
"I have a lot of friends who were congratulating me, calling me a hero. I was like, I would do it for anybody. Wouldn't you?" Pappenfus said.
Fleck was taken to St. Cloud Hospital, and then airlifted to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he remains in critical condition, suffering from burns and other injuries.