It was a horrific sight along Interstate 95 in Florida at 1 a.m. Wednesday morning after a car collision resulted in a conflagration.
The flames and billowing smoke from the vehicles, however, did not prevent the heroic efforts of police officers frantically trying to pull one of the drivers out of a mangled vehicle.
Police said 23-year-old Devon Standish drove on the wrong side of the Interstate towards oncoming traffic and hit 22-year-old Logan Aschendorf's vehicle, according to WKMG-TV.
Standish, who was from Daytona Beach, did not survive the collision. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
FOX 35 said the rescue effort was recorded on an officer's body cam, filming a Volusia County Sheriff's deputy and Edgewater officers extinguishing flames, breaking the window of a fiery vehicle, and cutting through the airbag to pull the trapped motorist to safety.
The brave men can be heard coughing as they risk injury from smoke inhalation.
The officers were identified as Kevin Nugent, 23, and Tim Maxwell, 33, who were the first to arrive on the scene and rescued Aschendorf.
Aschendorf, from Boca Raton, was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center and where he was treated for serious injuries.
Maxwell witnessed the collision between the 2010 Honda Insight and the 2018 Cadillac SUV from a distance. The officer was witness to many gruesome scenes before, but this accident is one he will never forget.
"It's one of the ones that will stick with me."
Here is the footage of Aschendorf being rescued from his burning Cadillac SUV taken from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office YouTube channel. Warning: it is pretty intense.
Head-on crash victim rescued from burning vehicle: Edgewater PD/Volusia Sheriffwww.youtube.com
Maxwell also witnessed the second crash involving a dump truck carrying hot asphalt, which slammed into a UPS truck that slowed down due to the same accident ahead.
The driver of the dump truck was taken to the hospital and treated for serious injuries while the UPS driver "suffered minor injuries."
Joe Mahoney, the interim police chief of the Edgewater Police Department, praised the officers responding to the tragic accident.
"These officers (were) acting courageously and selflessly during this rescue."
He told reporters one of the officers was treated for "smoke inhalation and later released."
One YouTube comment expressed gratitude for the officers who do not receive enough praise for what they do.
Happy Bokan/YouTube
Joseph Matthews/YouTube
The wreckage was one of three to occur along a 55-mile stretch on the Interstate in a 26-hour period, according to the Daytona Beach News Journal.
"The first two crashes occurred one after the other around 12:45 a.m. Wednesday near mile-marker 242. The third crash occurred around 4:45 a.m. Thursday in St. Johns County."
An investigation is underway to determine what caused Standish to drive on the opposite side of the Interstate. The FHP has not confirmed if Standish was under the influence.
This is one of many examples in which officers continue putting their lives on the line to save others. Our hats go off to these gentlemen for their bravery.
