Two New Jersey state troopers are being hailed as heroes after pulling a man out of a flaming tractor-trailer, in a dramatic rescue captured on video by one of the trooper’s body cameras.
Trooper Robert Tarleton was conducting a roadside stop on Interstate 287 on Monday when he noticed smoke billowing from a stopped tractor-trailer further down the road, according to police. Tarleton immediately jumped in his vehicle, drove up to the crash and told his dispatcher about the fire.
“Truck’s on fire, driver’s inside,” he barks into the car’s radio, before hopping out of the car and running full-tilt toward the truck.
Video shows that State Police Lt. Edward Ryer was already on the scene and trying to save the driver when Tarleton arrived. Ryer had been on his way home when he noticed the crash and stopped to help.
In the video, Ryer can be heard yelling and pulling on the driver’s arm to get him out of the flaming truck’s cab. Tarleton runs up and helps Ryer pull the driver out of the truck.
“We’ve gotta go! We’ve gotta go!” Tarleton shouts, as the two men haul the driver away as fast as possible. They get to the opposite side of the road a few seconds later, where they let the driver flop onto the ground.
“You all right?” Tarleton says, just before a loud boom is heard in the background. Police say the boom was caused by the truck exploding.
State police say the fire started when the tractor-trailer ran off the right side of the road, striking a guardrail and a bridge abutment.
The entire rescue played out in a matter of seconds, and police say the driver escaped the fire with only minor injuries.
The driver has not been identified and an investigation is ongoing.
—With files from The Associated Press