Jumping in at the first sign of trouble. As a fire broke out after a tanker fire on the Gold Star Bridge in Groton Friday morning, a group of good Samaritans managed to get a man out of a crashed car before flames reached it.
“This man, pray to God, we did everything we could and that Lord’s watching over them and going to keep them safe," said Brandon Bylo.
Bylo had no hesitation jumping into action in this dangerous situation. A man was stuck inside a crashed car as a tanker fire raged on the Gold Star Bridge.
“You could feel the heat of the blaze and everything on you,” he said.
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He says a group of people ran towards the car.
“I saw two other gentlemen helping carrying a man, one by his leg and one by his front arm so I grabbed his other front arm,” Bylo said.
They eventually got the man towards Bylo’s car which was parked away from the crashed vehicle.
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“He was starry-eyed, but at least when we had him on the ground, he was conscious and coherent,” he said.
Another one of the men that helped was an off-duty police officer - New London Police Lieutenant Cornelius Rodgers.
Rodgers says he was coming back from the gym when he saw the crash. His instincts kicked in.
“I want to thank God for putting me in the position to be there at that time, to actually save someone’s life. But I think anyone would have done the same thing I would of. The only difference is I wear a badge,” he said.
Bylo agreed, saying working with Rodgers was a group effort.
“He had his truck parked way back with the lights on but obviously plain clothes. Nobody cared what you were at the time. We are all trying to do the same job,” he said.
Bylo says his 2-year-old daughter saw him take action from the car and hopes she does the same thing when she grows up.
“My daughter, at two and a half, she’s like ‘Daddy we ran towards the smoke,’ so hopefully it will be instilled in the younger generation," Bylo said.
