Durham police officer saves man from burning car
A Durham police officer was on his way to a routine call last month when he got a new call for something a lot more pressing.
On May 22, officer Ryan Benfield came across a vehicle crash in the 900 block of Wadesboro Street with the car smoking, about to catch on fire. The car was still moving and someone was still inside it.
"When I got there I could see the vehicle," Benfield said. "It was pushed up against another car and was actively still running. So, I placed my car [in the way], that way I could keep it from taking off out of control in the event it shifted."
Benfield says he opened the door to the car and a ton of smoke came out. At that point the car wasn’t fully on fire, but that would soon change.
He says it was really hard to get the man out because he was “very unresponsive” and was resisting him because of the stress of the situation.
He tried to put the fire out with his fire extinguisher, but it eventually re-ignited and the car became engulfed in flames.
"I was able to get him out of the car, eventually," Benfield said. "The fire was getting larger and larger and the inside of the car was filling up with smoke. He had been inside a lot longer than I had, and it was affecting me, so, I was getting pretty worried if I wasn’t able to get him out."
The fire department eventually arrived to put out the fire and the man was taken to the hospital.
Benfield even went to the hospital to check on the man. "He was grateful for everything,” he said.
"I think all police officers here, especially in Durham, we get into this because we want to help people," he said. "We want to make a difference."
Benfield says at the time he was not scared for his safety, but afterward, he realized things could have been a lot worse.
"I mean, I couldn’t sit by while he was inside that car," he said. "We have great training here so a lot of it is second nature. It just kicks in automatically."
The Lenoir native has been a police officer for nine years, all with DPD.
