Highway Patrol Officer Seen Saving Driver From Fiery Crash in Harrowing Video

A Florida Highway Patrol officer risked injury to save driver from burning car.

Shocking law enforcement video shows a highway patrolman risking injury to save a driver from a flaming vehicle.

The Florida Highway Patrol footage is taken from the rear window of a cruiser stopped in the center shoulder of Interstate 75. A car is seen swerving into the center divider lane and then slamming in the back of the patrol car.

Trooper Richard Verbiest can be seen coming to the back of his cruiser, where the crumpled and burning wreckage of the car driven by Fernando Xavier Espinoza is smoldering, authorities said.

Verbiest manages to get the damaged driver's door opened and pulls Espinoza from his burning vehicle and drags him by the wrist to a safe distance. Passersby are seen helping the trooper and extinguishing the car fire with an extinguisher.

Espinoza was seriously injured, officials said. Verbiest was slightly injured, his department said.

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