ABOVE: The two men describe their close call on a Washington highway, one which resulted in no fatalities – and an offer to join the Seattle PD
What do you do when you are a Seattle police captain, and you learn that the young man who probably saved you and your wife’s life is a Navy veteran and enrolled in commercial dive school?
You try to recruit him to join the police department.
On June 12, David Emerick and his wife, Sally, were driving on I-90 to Eastern Washington when their 2011 Chevy pickup truck caught fire. They didn’t realize it at first, as the flames started underneath the vehicle.
DJ Campbell, 24, was in front of the Emericks and heading to see his father in Goldendale.
Campbell says the whole belly of the truck was engulfed in flames. He turned on his flashers and started weaving on the road.
“Your actions of moving back and forth and turning your flashers on showed me that something was wrong,” Emerick told Q13 News in Seattle.
When Emerick tried to stop the truck, he discovered his brakes were out. He was able to use the emergency brake to slow it down, but then the couple saw that their electric door locks didn’t work.
They then escaped through the window.
Campbell was right there, helping to steer the truck out of the roadway, even using a fire extinguisher to try to put out the flames.
“I had a split-second there when I was laying on the bottom of the truck, spraying it with a fire extinguisher, that maybe this isn’t the best place to be right now,” Campbell said.
Emerick shouted to him that everyone was safe and the truck was insured so he should get clear.
“Within four minutes after the truck caught fire, the gas tank exploded and it sent gas all the way across the roadway. The left-side tires blew, the right-side tires blew, the windows went, so it was very dangerous,” Emerick said.
To show their gratitude, the Emericks gave Campbell a $1,000 check to replace the cell phone he lost when he was trying to move the truck out of the roadway and commended him for his heroic actions.
Emerick also tried to recruit Campbell for the Seattle Police Department, “…because you are just the kind of people we are recruiting for our agency.”
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