Man Rescued from Burning Car

A Danielson man jumps into action to save another man from a burning car in Andover. Matt Tracy is being called a hero.

“I could see a car in the middle of the road and it looked pretty crushed,” said Tracy who said he saw the crash, saw one of the cars about to burst into flames and did what he felt was right.

He snapped pictures of the crushed car and then went first to the car, then to a truck that was about to burst into flames.

“He's trying to pull himself out screaming to pull him out but the seatbelt tangled around his neck and under his arm,” said Tracy whose mom was driving him to work in Bloomfield Wednesday morning.

They were on Route 6 in Andover at the time when they saw the scene.  He says they couldn’t help the man in the civic—later identified by police as Jose Velez—because he was so badly pinned. He wanted to do more but told him, “Stay calm. Don't move too much you'll make it worse.

So Tracy ran to the truck that was about to catch fire. Kevin Bobskill was trapped inside.

“I could feel the heat on my legs and the heat coming through the cab,” added Tracy who managed to pry the seatbelt off of Bobskill after finding a piece of carpet in his truck. “[So I] put him on the carpet and he was strong enough to hold my hands so I dragged all the way across the road.”

Tracy’s mother was waiting there and she called police. Tracy says he was on scene all of ten minutes.

“And it didn’t take me that long a time and I saved a man’s life. I really feel good about that,” said Tracy who leaned in after carrying Bobskill to safety saying he couldn’t stay because he was late for work.

 “I tried to help you as best as I could and he had enough power to shake my hand and pull me and kiss my shoulder and said thank you very much.”

Both men are at Hartford Hospital and are expected to recover. Kevin Bobskill’s wife is calling Matt Tracy her husband’s guardian angel and want to thank him some day in person.

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