LAS VEGAS – In a dramatic body cam video from Friday on the Strip, police pull a man from a car that is on fire.

Metro police put the video and an interview with officer Derek Stebbins, who pulled the driver out of the car as flames shot up from the bottom, on YouTube on Tuesday. He got help from a man who was there and helped the police without being asked to. The police didn’t know who that man was.

Court records show that Alexander Dawkins is being charged with DUI, failing to keep a travel lane clear or making an improper lane change, and failing to show proof of insurance. After hitting a palm tree in the middle of the Strip near the Venetian Las Vegas near Spring Mountain Road and getting hurt, he was taken into custody at University Medical Center.

Here’s how Stebbins told the story:

“When I got there, I saw that there was smoke coming from the car. As I got closer to the car, I saw that someone had broken the window out of the car’s passenger side. I tried to get in through the door for the passenger. We finally got the door open, but the man in the car was leaning all the way to the driver side, so we couldn’t pull him out from the passenger side “Stebbins said.

“I kept pulling him farther and farther away from the car. As I did this, it started… Before the car caught fire, there were more flames and more smoke coming from it “he said.

“As I got closer, I saw that a good Samaritan had thrown something through the window before I got there. By the time I got to the passenger side, smoke was already coming out of the car, so I just asked everyone to move back. So while I was trying to get the driver out of the car, I was just trying to make sure the scene was safe. Like I said, another good Samaritan stayed and opened the passenger door after the window was broken trying to unlock the windows “Stebbins said.

Police have not said who the good Samaritan was.

Stebbins said, “You know, I think it was great that he stayed.” “I moved a lot of them back so that the scene would be safe. I mean, that’s what we’re taught to do: make sure the scene is safe so no one else gets hurt. But he decided to stay. And to be honest, I didn’t even know he was there because I was so focused on getting the guy out of the car. The only way I knew he was there was because he pulled out one of the guy’s arms and then helped me pull the other guy out.”

Things could have gone a lot worse.

“I think he would have been burned in the car if we hadn’t been there. He might have died. I don’t know for sure, but I think he would have been badly burned by how quickly the car caught fire “Stebbins said.

Credits: 8 News Now

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