April 03--Police rescued two men from a fiery crash early Friday in the Gage Park neighborhood.
Officers Hector Fuentes and Peter Gurskis were on patrol in the 8th District on Friday when they saw a small sedan cross into oncoming traffic, crash head-on into a truck and burst into flames.
The officers took immediate action and pulled two men to safety before flames enveloped the car.
"We couldn't wait on the fire department to show up," Fuentes said, following the crash. His partner agreed.
"Right place, right time, I think," Gurskis said. "It's just one of those things where we react to these things we see, and we do it. We don't really think about it."
Fuentes and Gurskis, who have been partners for about 15 years, happened to be traveling northbound on Kedzie Avenue behind the small Chevy Aveo when they saw the car's driver cross lanes near 57th Street and crash into a truck. Police said they did not know what led up to the crash.
Fuentes said the truck driver attempted to swerve but could not clear the car in time. Both officers said the car caught fire immediately, and they ran to the vehicle and found the driver's legs pinned beneath the dashboard.
As Gurskis pried the driver's side door down, Fuentes tried to free the driver's legs. The two managed to pull the man free and drag him to safety. Fuentes then went back and found a passenger in the burning car, he said.
By that time, two other officers had arrived, and all four officers pulled the second man out of the car. The two injured men were transported to Mount Sinai Hospital. Police said they are expected to survive. The truck's driver was not injured in the crash, police said.
The two officers, who have both been in the department for 17 years, said they had never encountered anything like a car "exploding on impact," Gurskis said, comparing it to something out of movie.
When called heroes by reporters early Friday, Fuentes admitted to feeling a little fear when he was pulling the men out of the burning wreckage. Gurskis said he believed it was something any Chicago police officer would do.
"I don't think we would have done anything different than any other officer in this department," he said. "That's what we do. That's what we're out here for, and I believe any other brother or sister officer would have done the same thing."
WGN-TV contributed.
