Sayreville couple pulls driver from burning car
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“The front of the car was smashed,” Liz said. “I’m thinking if he’s locked in there, we’re not going to get him out.”
But the couple persevered.
“While my husband was pulling him, I grabbed one arm and he grabbed the other and we got him out,” Liz said. “That was the most important thing, to get him out, and we did.”
Once Colella was safely away from the burning car and wrapped in the family’s blanket, Liz asked him if there was someone he wanted to contact, and he told her his dad. She quickly got her phone, dialed the number and put him on the phone to talk to his dad, who immediately rushed to the scene, Liz said.
Liz said she doesn’t consider herself or her husband heroes.
“We were one car behind that car and it could have been us,” Liz said. “It makes us thing God put you in the right place at the right time. I only hope that if it’s ever me, my children or someone else, there will be someone there to help them. You just do what you have to do.”
Cynthia Ferenci, who lives on Bordentown Avenue near the site of the accident, said she heard the crash, looked out and saw flames coming from the red car.
“I knew it was bad because we’ve had a lot of accidents here, but I’ve never seen flames before,” she said.
Ferenci said that by the time she got outside, the Meles already had rescued the driver.
“They were fast,” she said. “They were quick, on the ball and very courageous to go to a burning car. They dragged him a couple of lengths of a firetruck away so he would be safe. The man who owns the horses gave the women, who stayed with the driver, two blankets to cover the man.”
Anthony said emergency responders were quick to the scene.
Colella was transported by the Sayreville Emergency Squad to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick with cuts and bruises, police said. He was treated and released, police said, and could not be reached for comment.
Members of the Sayreville Fire Department responded and extinguished the fire. The accident is being investigated by Patrolman David Sivilli of the Sayreville Police Department Traffic Safety Bureau.
Anthony said he and his wife had a similar incident in Watchung, when a man riding a motorcycle was hit by a car.
“We pulled into a hot dog stand and the guy flew off the motorcycle into the air and just missed the hood of my truck,” Anthony said.
The couple consoled the motorcyclist until emergency personnel arrived.
“Everything happens to us,” Anthony said. “I’m glad we were able to help. We’re not heroes. We just react.”
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