(WWJ) An off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent is being hailed a hero for saving a man from a burning car in Farmington Hills.
Agent John Leslie was driving down Northwestern Highway, near 13 Mile Road Saturday night when his wife spotted an SUV that had crashed into a tree and caught fire.
Leslie, who is also an EMT, pulled over to see if anyone was injured, and saw a man trapped inside the vehicle.
Vehicle on fire after striking tree.USCBP
"I crawled to the backseat, popped the door open, got access to the back, and I'm trying to work on the guy, and the smokes rolling through," Leslie told WWJ Newsradio 950's Jackie Paige.
"He's got his seatbelt on, and the steering column, steering wheel and the engine are pretty much collapsed into the guy's lap. So I was not able to extract the gentleman from the backseat."
As Leslie was trying to get out of the backseat, his knee hit a bag with bowling ball inside.
Leslie said if it wasn't for that bowling ball, the man likely would have burned alive.
"I took that bowling ball and, you know, struck the driver's side window six times, five or six times. I collapsed that window, popped the door open."
Leslie and another good Samaritan were able to pull the driver to safety, just seconds before the car was fully engulfed in flames.
Leslie began triage on the man until Farmington Hills Police and Fire arrived on scene and took control of the situation.
John Leslie kneels to fix his shoe after extricating the man from his burning vehicle.USCBP
Vehicle remains after fire was extinguished.USCBP
"Everyday across America our Border Patrol agents, without regard for their own safety, risk their lives to save others," said Acting Chief Patrol Agent Robert Simon, in a statement. "I could not be more proud of John and how quickly he jumped in to save this man's life. If he did not react so quickly the outcome would have been very different."
