Man Pulls 87-Year-Old Woman From Burning Car In Bridgewater
BRIDGEWATER (CBS) - A man saved an 87-year-old woman's life by pulling her from her burning vehicle in Bridgewater on Saturday.
Michael Casey was scraping some old paint when Jane Butler's car veered into his neighbor's front yard, somehow narrowly missing a boat trailer and some big trees, before coming to a stop in his backyard.
Butler somehow veered off the road at the intersection of Vernon and Green Streets.
WBZ-TV's Ken MacLeod reports.
Casey said the elderly woman looked to be in shock, staring straight ahead and clutching the steering wheel as flames began to leap from underneath the car. So, he picked up a flagstone and tried to smash a rear window, only to have it bounce off.
"My neighbor that was coming over kept saying, 'Get out of there! Get out of there! The gas tank's gonna blow!'" said Casey.
But, Casey refused to give up. He retrieved a hammer from his basement and smashed open the rear window to get in the car. He then pried the woman's hands off the steering wheel and dragged her to safety.
"He was quick-thinking, and he did a heck of a job," said Capt. Joseph Cairns of the Bridgewater Fire Department.
Firefighters who arrived minutes later have no doubt that Casey was a life-saver.
"It was very fortunate. It was just meant to be that he was out there, because like I said, it would have been a different outcome," said Capt. Cairns.
Butler's family didn't want to talk to WBZ-TV about the mishap, but said she'll be out of the hospital on Tuesday.
Butler lives only a mile or so away.
Firefighters said some sort of medical issue triggered the accident.
