Video: North Texas officer pulls man from burning Tesla. Bodycam footage shows rescue
A North Texas police officer’s body camera captured the moment he pulled a driver from a burning car on the Sam Rayburn Tollway early last Friday.
Officer Edwardo Hernandez with The Colony Police Department was on patrol when he witnessed the accident.
A vehicle exiting the tollway struck a barricade, flipped and then became stuck between walls dividing northbound and southbound traffic.
According to a Facebook post on the department’s page, Hernandez initially tried to put out the fire using an extinguisher, but was unsuccessful.
“I noticed it was a Tesla, but I did not take into account right then and there that this was a battery, an electric vehicle,” Hernandez told WFAA-TV.
Video shows Hernandez grabbing a glass-breaking tool — which the department distributed to every officer after the Uvalde school shooting. He tells the driver to stand back and breaks the window of the crashed car in three strikes.
“Your car’s on fire, man,” Hernandez said. “Get out!”
The footage then shows officers pulling the driver from the vehicle.
According to the department’s Facebook post, the driver was treated for smoke inhalation and is expected to recover.
