Dash cam captures heart-stopping NJ police rescue as fire engulfs car in under 2 minutes

🚓 South Brunswick officers rescue an unconscious driver as a car erupts in flames.
🔥 Dash cam video shows the vehicle fully engulfed just two minutes after their arrival.
🙌 Police call the rescue “heroic” as the 26-year-old driver is improving.

FRANKLIN (Somerset) — A 26-year-old driver involved in a crash was rescued by quick-acting police, just minutes before the car was completely on fire earlier this month.

Two South Brunswick police officers rushed to a single-vehicle car crash before 3 a.m. on Nov. 9.

Driver found unconscious as smoke poured from burning car

Officers Thomas Sites and Yash Shroff were the closest to Route 27 near Andover Drive in Franklin Township, where a car had gone off the road.

As the officers arrived, they found the young man unresponsive in the driver’s seat, with the vehicle's doors locked and smoke already billowing from the front of the car.

Read More: Heroic police rescue saves boy from Asbury Park house fire

‘Split-second’ rescue using breaching tool caught on dash cam

Shroff tried to break a window with his police baton, but it didn’t work.

Sites grabbed what is known as a “breaching tool” from his patrol car and smashed the rear passenger's window, followed by the driver’s window to reach inside and unlock the door.

Flames had already begun to spread underneath the car as the duo had the driver out and pulled to safety in less than a minute from arrival.

By two minutes on the dash cam video, the entire car is engulfed in flames.

Driver survives as officials call officers’ actions heroic

The driver was taken to a hospital and initially listed as critical.

As of Sunday, he had improved and was listed in stable condition.

“I have watched the video and it is the definition of heroic,” South Brunswick Police Chief Raymond Hayducka said in a written release.

Hayducka added that it was thanks to “the split-seconds actions of these officers” that the young driver survived the fiery crash.

The fire was put out by Little Rocky Hill, Griggstown, and Rocky Hill Fire Departments.

Franklin Township Police are investigating the crash.

South Brunswick police have shared the dramatic dash cam footage, posted to Youtube:

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