Grand Island police pull man from burning vehicle after crash
By: -----
Grand Island, NB - A Grand Island man rescued from a burning vehicle is now facing charges for the moments leading up to the crash.
Fabian Blanco, 45, is charged in Hall County Court for failure to stop and render aid, DUI and willful reckless driving. The failure to stop and render aid is the only felony of the three.
The charges come after police said Blanco was driving on 3rd Street Monday night when he sideswiped another vehicle. Police said a 77-year-old man was injured, but not seriously.
Blanco’s vehicle continued westbound and eventually ended up near Blaine and Koenig.
According to Grand Island police, his vehicle ran into a power pole, spun around into a fence and nearly hit a home.
The vehicle then caught fire, and once officers were on scene, they had to break the car’s windows to pull him to safety.
The Grand Island Police Department released dramatic video from two police body cameras as well as dash cam video.
Division Chief Dean Elliott said officers attempted to break the windows because the doors were locked, and some of the doors were pinned shut because of the severity of the damage to the front of the vehicle.
Elliott said that was unsuccessful so one officer took a fire extinguisher to smash out the rear window, but due to the smoke inside, police were unable to see anyone inside.
Police were able to get to the driver’s side window, where they found the unconscious driver inside the burning vehicle.
They were able to drag him out the window and to safety.
Elliott said the four officers will be put in for a life-saving award because of their action in this incident. They are Officer Santiago Velasquez, Officer Damien Kluska, Officer Bobby Jacques and Officer Jennifer Kelly.
He said they went above and beyond to put themselves in danger, whether it be the fire or the smoke and try and rescue this person from the vehicle and safe his life so that he didn’t receive further injury or potentially sustain a life-ending injury in that crash.
Police said everyone was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation, including the four officers.
Once released, Blanco was taken into custody.
Blanco appeared in court on Tuesday, where his bond was set at 10 percent of $50,000. He was also ordered not to consume alcohol or use drugs unless prescribed and not to drive unless licensed.“