SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Police Department released body camera footage of an officer racing against the flames that engulfed a car to pull out a woman who was trapped inside.
San Antonio Officer Bianca Garcia responded around 3 a.m. on January 13th to a crashed vehicle that caught fire in the Starbucks parking lot on West Hildebrand Avenue and Fredericksburg Road, the San Antonio Police Department said.
As Garcia pulls up in her patrol car, the officer can be heard on her body worn camera telling dispatch that the car “is fully engulfed.” A group of bystanders meets Garcia as she exits her cruiser.
“Please, please, my passenger,” the driver tells Garcia. “Please, she’s my friend. She’s in my car.”
As Garcia rushes toward the burning car, a bystander can be heard saying the door won’t open. When Garcia tries to open the passenger side door, it appears locked or jammed.
Garcia goes around to the partially open driver’s side door as flames and smoke continue to spread across the front of the vehicle.
“Come on, mama! Come on, mama! Come on!” Garcia can be heard saying. “Get out! Come on, mama! Your car is on fire!”
Additional officers arrived at the scene to help Garcia pull the woman to safety.
Garcia thanked her fellow officers, Jesse Armendariz and Robert Pompa, in helping to rescue the trapped passenger, police said.
Those involved in the crash “miraculously” survived with only minor injuries, according to authorities.
“You can always count on San Antonio Police to respond in any way we know how,” the department said.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
