Deputy, Good Samaritan Rescue Driver From Burning Mail Truck After Crash

A Washington sheriff’s deputy and a good Samaritan helped rescue a postal carrier from a burning mail truck after a collision earlier this month, officials said.

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday shared body-worn camera video of the rescue, which took place on Jan. 8. Deputies responded at around 12:10 p.m. to a report that a mail truck had caught fire following a collision with a sedan at Park Avenue South and 106th Street South in Parkland.

The video shows the first deputy to arrive on scene found the driver of the mail truck seriously injured and in danger as the flames spread amid heavy smoke. The deputy pulled the male postal carrier away from the burning truck. Then, with the help of a nearby woman, attempted to put out the fire.

A backseat passenger in the sedan, meanwhile, was “in serious condition,” the sheriff’s office said. Central Pierce Fire responded to the scene to extinguish the fire, and both the mail truck driver and sedan passenger were transported to local hospitals in serious condition.

The sheriff’s office did not indicate a possible cause for the collision.

“Thank you to the female bystander who stopped to help and to Central Pierce Fire for all your great work,” the sheriff’s office said.