An elderly man was pulled from a flaming car wreck after he suffered a seizure and smashed into a divider on the Van Wyck Expressway in Queens, cops said.
The 74-year-old man lost control and plowed his Lexus into a concrete divider near the expressway’s Liberty Avenue overpass in Jamaica at around 4:30 p.m., police said.
A heroic ESU officer pulled an unconscious from his burning car on the Van Wyck Expressway Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.
Officer Matthew Hartnett, 32, spotted the flaming 4-door Lexus crashed against the divider on the southbound side of the Van Wyck near the Liberty Avenue overpass in Jamaica around 4:30 PM, Hartnett said in a conference call.
said Hartnett, a 9-year veteran. “The flames were coming out from underneath, near the engine area.”
Hartnett smashed the front passenger’s side window and pulled the unresponsive driver from the engulfed car with the help of a concerned civilian. Hartnett said, adding that he couldn’t reach the driver’s side door because it was stuck against the divider.
Hartnett dragged the driver, 74, to his department car, about 150 feet away from the blaze. He used his car to block two lanes of traffic on the expressway while executing the daring rescue.
Authorities said the driver apparently suffered a seizure behind the wheel. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he’s listed in stable condition.