When Atlanta police officers found a car engulfed in flames and two men trapped inside, they had no time to coordinate a plan.
The intense and quickly-spreading fire was starting to burn the driver and passenger in the vehicle early Wednesday.
The driver was unconscious, and the passenger was screaming repeatedly for help, Officer Bill Brooks said.
He and a team of other officers — Derek Daniel, Elijah McCall, Michael Skillman and Andre Valentine — jumped into action.
The officers grabbed fire extinguishers, batons and water bottles out of their police cars. They started busting car windows.
“I signed up to help people,” Brooks said. “And that’s what I’m going to always do.”
Skillman was the first to arrive on the scene on Cheshire Bridge Road under I-85.
He was knocking out one of the car’s windows with a baton when McCall arrived.
“I didn’t notice (the passenger) until he pretty much started screaming,” McCall said.
By that time, Brooks, Daniel and Valentine had joined Skillman and McCall.
The officers concentrated on trying to build an exit point for the victims because the doors were jammed close.
Daniel got a water bottle and started pouring it on the hood of the car.
“I wasn’t really concerned about my safety at the time,” Daniel said. “It comes with the job of being a first responder.”
Valentine, who has been on the job about a year, said the rescue was second nature and he would do it all over again.
“I would hope that somebody would do that for my family as well,” he said.
The team of officers, soon joined by firefighters, were eventually able to free the driver and passenger, police said. They were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in serious condition.
McCall said he doesn’t consider himself a hero, just a guy doing his job.
“It’s not always about catching bad guys,” he said. “We also go out and save lives.”
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