(Amtrak Police Department, California)
On April 5, 2017, at approximately 11:30 a.m., Officer Edward Flores was operating his marked Amtrak Police vehicle in heavy traffic on State Highway 60 approaching Hacienda Heights, when he observed that a three-car accident had occurred ahead of him. One of the vehicles caught fire, trapping its female driver and her two-year-old daughter.
Officer Flores positioned his vehicle to protect the accident scene and rushed up to the burning vehicle. The female driver appeared to be panicked, yelling “My daughter!” and screaming for Officer Flores to help her daughter, who was in the back seat of the vehicle. Officer Flores, in disregard for his own personal safety and with the assistance of a male citizen on the scene, forced open the driver’s door. Thick black smoke filled the vehicle as Officer Flores and the citizen safely extricated the female driver and her daughter. Officer Flores moved them to a safe area on the highway and went back to check on the other drivers and vehicles involved in the accident.
A second vehicle had wedged itself under the rear bumper of the burning vehicle. Officer Flores was able to unhitch the vehicles and had the driver move his vehicle safely away from the burning vehicle. Officer Flores then checked on the condition of the driver of the third vehicle. When his assessment determined that the driver had no injuries, he had her move her vehicle away from the burning vehicle to the shoulder of the highway.
As Officer Flores was directing the vehicle to the shoulder, he heard a loud popping sound and saw that the intensity of the burning vehicle’s fire had increased, with flames threatening the interior of the vehicle where the driver and her daughter had been extracted just moments earlier. Again, in disregard for his personal safety, Officer Flores retrieved his fire extinguisher and successfully extinguished the fire.
The courageous and decisive actions of Officer Flores resulted in the successful rescue of a mother and her child from their burning vehicle. His calm demeanor in handling this dangerous situation proved instrumental in protecting the lives of all the people involved in the accident.