Garland Officer Frees Trapped Driver Before Car Bursts Into Flames

A North Texas police officer is credited with helping save a woman from a burning car, and the rescue was caught on video.

Garland police officer Michael Mallison was headed to court in Dallas on the morning of Aug. 21 when he came upon a serious crash along U.S. Highway 80.

A handful of people were already gathered around a smoking vehicle near Big Town Boulevard in Mesquite, with some using fire extinguishers to stop the entire car from catching fire. Mallison grabbed yet another extinguisher and ran to help.

Bystanders told the officer that the driver, a woman in her 40s, was still trapped inside the vehicle.

"She was screaming. I didn't understand what she was saying, she was screaming something in Spanish," Mallison said. "There was a young lady that stopped and translated and said her feet were burning. That's when I noticed, I thought the fire was out, but the fire was coming through the fire wall down at the bottom of her feet, and her pants caught on fire."

Mallison was able to get into the vehicle through the back door, pull the woman into the back seat and out to a group of bystanders who helped carry her across the highway barrier to safety.

"I don't know if it's training that kicked in or what," Mallison said. "I just knew she needed to get out of that car. I didn't give it much thought, just wanted to get her out."

Mallison said he has not talked to the woman since and doesn't know how she is doing. Mesquite paramedics rushed the woman to Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, and she has since been released.

"I'm by no means a hero," Mallison said. "It's something anybody else would have done – any other officer – there is no doubt in my mind."

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