By Susan Field
Voice News, New Baltimore, Mich.
MT. PLEASANT, Mich. — Two Mt. Pleasant Police officers are being credited for saving the life of a woman from a burning vehicle after an accident Sunday night — the eve of National First Responders Day.
Mt. Pleasant Police Chief Paul Lauria on Monday showed a body cam video from the scene of the accident during a regular meeting of the city commission.
Telling commissioners that public safety jobs are often thankless and dangerous, Lauria said he wanted to show a small piece of what police and firefighters do on a regular basis.
Lauria showed the two-minute video that began with Sgt. Jonathon Straus and Officer Tyler Burrows responding to an accident shortly before 10 p.m. at the north Mission roundabout, running toward the vehicle when it was fully engulfed in flames, and using an axe to carefully cut a large enough hole in the windshield to get the 22-year-old Sterling Heights woman out of the car, which was on its side.
“I can guarantee you, another 20 seconds and there would have been a death on our hands,” Lauria said after the body cam video ended, noting that the victim was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Lauria said police and firefighters don’t need to be thanked for what they do, but he wanted to highlight on the day set aside to honor first responders the dangers they face, never knowing what the next day, hour or minute will bring.
Lauria, who told commissioners he and other first responders spent part of the day Monday at a school, daycare center and retirement home to celebrate First Responders Day, said he wants residents to know they can be proud of their police and fire departments, and that they can be confident in the abilities of their first responders.
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“I challenge any of you to find a police department that responds to a vehicle on its side, gas and fuel leaking out of it,” Lauria said. “Most people would have swung that axe at the front windshield.
“You don’t know where the victim is on the inside.”
Instead of swinging the axe with full force, first responders were careful to not cause further injury to the victim, Lauria said.
Lauria’s comments were met with applause from those attending Monday night’s city commission meeting.
Originally Published: October 31, 2024 at 7:03 AM EDT
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