Police are calling a Colorado trucker a hero for saving the life of two people trapped inside a burning mini van early on Wednesday morning.
The incident happened on August 29th at around 3:55 a.m. in Woodland Park, Colorado.
According to Fox 21 News, truck driver Richard Krochta was driving his semi truck along Highway 4 west of Woodland Park when he noticed a mini van burning on the side of the road. Krochta quickly stopped his rig, grabbed his fire extinguisher, and ran to the burning vehicle where he managed to pull the motorist to safety before battling the smoke and flames to pull a second passenger out of the van.
Northeast Teller County Fire Department Capt. Brian Stimits says that the two elderly people were incapacitated and trapped after the mini van left the roadway and crashed into a tree and that the trucker’s actions “surely saved the lives of both occupants,” who were transported to a nearby hospital with non-life threatening leg injuries.
“I could hear someone yelling ‘Help! Help me!’ A tree was blocking the door on both sides,” explained the truck driver.
Krochta was on his way to the Cripple Creek gold mine for Savage Services, his employer, at the time of the incident.
Alcohol and drugs were not factors in the crash, but officers do say that the motorist fell asleep at the wheel, which led to the accident.
