Good Samaritans Save Driver From Fiery Wreck

By City News Service:

Two men, including an off-duty Los Angeles police sergeant, rescued a man from a burning truck after a crash on Interstate 15 near Ontario International Airport, fire officials said Sunday.

Around 11:10 a.m. Friday, a southbound U-Haul truck with a trailer sideswiped a car and then went into the center median, where it tumbled down an embankment towards railroad tracks and Mission Boulevard.

LAPD Sgt. Al Kilgore was driving south on the 15 when he saw a crowd drivers out of their vehicles looking down on the burning truck at the Mission Boulevard overpass. He got out of the car and heard someone yelling that someone was still inside the truck, Kilgore told the Riverside Press- Enterprise.

He scrambled down the embankment and ran to the truck, where he was helped by another man -- Martin Garcia, 42, of Victorville -- who had noticed the smoke and ran to help, too.

Clearing aside luggage and coolers, they grabbed the man, who was bloodied and semi-conscious, and pulled him from the truck, the Press- Enterprise said. Thirty seconds later, the gas tank blew up.

The driver was hospitalized and suffered moderate injuries, firefighters said.