Good Samaritan pulls driver from fiery crash

LINCOLN, Mass. (WHDH) -- A Good Samaritan saved a driver from a fiery crash in Lincoln Monday morning.

“You could hear the cracking and the popping and the hissing of the fire underneath hood,” said Neil Packard.

Little is left of the pickup truck; flames ravaged it down to its shell. But the driver is alive thanks to a quick-thinking Good Samaritan.

“I knew deep down if sat there and I called 911 he wouldn't have made it,” said Packard.

Neil Packard was driving to work Monday morning with his son, Aaron, when they saw the truck on fire on Weston Road in Lincoln.

“I tried to get his door open. I told him, ‘We have to get you out of here, the vehicle’s on fire,’ and I couldn't get driver side door open. So I ran around to passenger side. It was all full of tools, he had all kinds of tools there. I started taking his tools throwing them as far as I could out of the way,” said Packard.

While Packard pulled the driver out of truck and away from the flames, his son watched from a distance, frightened for his father.

“It could explode and he could get very, very hurt,” said Aaron.

Minutes after Packard got the driver out and to safety police say the flames raged high enough to touch the power lines.

“He was very fortunate, and the passerby did heck of job, in risking his own life as well to get in there and pull the driver to safety,” said Sergeant Paul Westlund of the Lincoln Police Department.

Police are still investigating how the 39-year-old driver ended up crashing into field. But there's no doubt one man's selfless act saved another man's life.

“The best part of all that was, was the police officer actually went up to my son and he actually told my son that he should be proud of me, that I was a hero and that I had saved someone’s life,” Packard said.

The driver was taken to the hospital and is recovering at home.

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