Bystanders Pull Pima County Arizona Deputy from Fiery Crash

[CPDlife4ME]

Posted: Friday, February 8, 2008
Updated: February 8th, 2008 10:01 AM PDT

ERIC SWEDLUND
The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)

Several bystanders pulled a Pima County Sheriff's deputy out of a burning patrol car after it was involved in a collision on Tucson's West Side about 12:30 p.m.

The deputy was westbound on Ajo Way, responding to a reported traffic collision at West Ajo Way and Kinney Road, when he collided with a pickup truck in the intersection of Ajo and La Cholla, said Tucson police Sgt. Mark Robinson. The patrol car rolled.

Seeing the patrol car on fire, bystanders rushed in, flipped the car upright and were able to pry the door open and rescue the deputy, Robinson said.

One of the rescuers was Paul Madewell, an iron worker from Safford, who was staying at a nearby mobile-home park. Madewell heard the crash and saw the patrol car flipping over, he said.

He didn't consider himself a hero and was not concerned about the fire, though it was growing as the rescuers moved in.

"Either we were all going to burn, or we were all going to walk out of there," Madewell said.

The deputy was flown to University Medical Center. He suffered burns, but his injuries were not considered life-threatening. The deputy's name is not being released pending notification of next of kin.

The driver of the other vehicle was taken by ambulance to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Robinson said.

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good stuff

[JakeLock]

Wow, there are human beings on this planet...


This is awesome, It seems so rare that anyone helps cops these days, I'm glad to see this made any type of headlines...

[normal1]

After reading about all the LEOs that die in accidents whilst "citizens" (use that term loosely in this case) watch, this is definitely refreshing.

Good work!

[patchcop]

CatDog, give Mr. Madewell a beer from me;)

[deputywave]

+1 to the bystanders

[Valor55]

I wonder if that's the neat feature Ford's been building into CVPIs since 1991. You know, the spontaneously combustible gas tank that cooks cops.

Glad the brother made it out ok! Kudos to the citizens who helped.

[GoDirectly2Jail]

Comes home even more when you see it...

[smcc360]

Seeing the patrol car on fire, bystanders rushed in, flipped the car upright and were able to pry the door open and rescue the deputy...

:eek: Who were the bystanders? The Superfriends? :cool:

A very inspiring story of heroes acting courageously.

Always seems to be the so-called 'red states' where stuff like this happens, but that's probably just observational bias on my part.

[Cat_Doc]

"Either we were all going to burn, or we were all going to walk out of there," Madewell said.

My God, this sounds just like the type of quotes we heard from our Greatest Generation in WWII. Mr. Madewell, you have my respect!

Patch; if I thought I could find all that helped, I would buy them dinner and a movie. My reward would be if I were allowed to shake their hand.

360; Arizona, even though we are picking up transplants at an amazing rate, still has the old fashioned values of a White Hat Cowboy.

[Cat_Doc]

Comes home even more when you see it...

Take a look at who is helping. Working men. Levis, boots and strong hands.

Take a look at who is helping; a Hispanic, a long hair, and especially the older gentleman who is right in the mix (Mr. Madewell?) with more help on the way.

I doubt there were any pansy *** liberals in that group… and bet there were a few guns in their car/truck.

God, I love this state!

[Wolfman]

"Either we were all going to burn, or we were all going to walk out of there," Madewell said.

That is awesome. Good job to these guys and a speey recovery to the Deputy.

[sfb92]

That's really brave of those bystanders, the car's on fire and they're helping w/o any protection! They have my respect.

I just read they flipped the car over! These bystanders probally saved this deputies life! Cat Doc I can see why you love your state!