COLUMBUS – The Columbus Division of Police has released dramatic body-cam video of two officers rescuing a man from a burning car on the Northeast Side last week.
https://twitter.com/ColumbusPolice/status/1182833930359185408
Officers Niko Velalis and Jacob Smith responded to an accident at the intersection of E. Dublin-Granville Road and Forest Hills Boulevard at 10:16 p.m. on Oct. 9, according to an account on the division’s Twitter feed.
The saw a small fire inside one of the vehicles so they put it out with fire extinguishers from their cruisers, then rescued the driver of the vehicle, identified as Ryan Baker, who was trapped inside.
Smith used a window-punch tool on his belt to break a window and the two officers pulled Baker from the wreckage by his legs as the fire reignited. Within a minute of Baker being pulled to safety, the vehicle was engulfed in flames.
Baker was transported to Riverside Methodist Hospital in stable condition with at least one broken leg, according to Sgt. Chris Bova.