Body camera captures Georgia officers saving woman from burning car

Friday, August 30, 2019
Body camera captures Georgia officer saving woman from burning car
Two officers rescued a woman from a car engulfed in flames in rural Georgia, and a body camera captured the life-saving efforts on video.

BARROW COUNTY, Ga. -- Two officers rescued a woman from a car engulfed in flames in rural Georgia, and a body camera captured the live-saving efforts on video.

A woman was trapped inside her vehicle after crashing into a ditch in a single-vehicle accident in Barrow County, WSB-TV reported.

Body camera footage from Auburn Police Sgt. Breon Rucker shows the officer rushing toward the burning car.

The woman's car had rolled on its passenger side, so Rucker tried kicking out the windshield.

The body camera footage shows Rucker's repeated kicks, but the windshield won't budge.

He continued kicking for more than a minute as the fire grew and another officer arrived to help.

The woman was in a fetal position inside the vehicle, "almost as if she'd given up because she was entrapped," said Sgt. Mark Pharr.

But the officers wouldn't give up. Sgt. Rucker ran to get firefighters to help just around the time that the fire expanded, blowing out a tire.

At first, Rucker thought his fellow officer and the victim were caught in the loud explosion. But he said he realized everyone was still alright as the smoke cleared.

"You train for this all day," said Pharr. "This is why we train, but you do this out of instinct."

The car wreck wasn't even located in the city of Auburn, but officers responded to the call because they knew the severity of the accident.