Bystander Comes to Man's Aid in Fiery Ill. Crash
A mystery man is being credited for saving another man's life after reportedly pulling him from a burning vehicle after a single-vehicle crash Monday morning.
Morris Fire and Ambulance Protection District Chief Tracey Steffes said firefighters responded to the crash at about 1:30 a.m. in the 2200 block of Ashley Road.
"They arrived on the scene and they found a vehicle on its passenger side, off the west side of the road," Steffes said. "It was totally involved in fire."
According to the Morris Police Department report, which was not released until Thursday, Christopher M. Paull, 22, of 317 E. Main Street, was traveling south on Ashley Road when his vehicle, a 1993 Ford Bronco, veered off the road to the right and struck a tree.
The vehicle rolled onto the driver's side, slid down the embankment and came to a rest on the west side of a nearby bridge, in the dry creek bed. It next caught fire and was completely engulfed in flames before it was extinguished by firefighters. Paull was the sole occupant of the vehicle.
Steffes said when fire and EMS crews arrived, they originally thought two men were involved in the crash because there were two on-scene, but came to learn that the second man, whose identity is not known to first responders, saw the crash and worked to pull Paull from the vehicle. The two were both transported to Morris Hospital for minor injuries.
Later, when Steffes had a chance to speak to the young man, the fire chief told him how much of a difference he had made.
"I told him what you did was heroic. There is no doubt in my mind that the driver would have perished in that fire if this young man didn't stop and intervene," he said.
In the interaction with the young man, the rescuer told Steffes he preferred to remain anonymous, and Steffes didn't push for the man's name. It was not listed on police records, either.
"He said, 'I don't want any recognition, I don't want anyone to know who I am. He said, 'I would just hope that if the roles were reversed, if it was me that was down there, someone would stop,'" Steffes said. "He definitely was a game-changer for that night."
According to the police records, Paull was arrested on a charge of operating an uninsured vehicle. He was also cited for having drugs in his blood or urine, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, and driving too fast for conditions.
Copyright 2012 - Morris Daily Herald, Ill.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service