--- description: Surveillance video shows the police officer dragging the driver to safety title: Watch: Off-Duty Cop Rescues Man From Burning Car image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf227c5606fd82ea/6986978c35ba6fce0ec02940/car-fire-1280x720.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch: Off-Duty Cop Rescues Man From Burning Car by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 13, 2014 5:32 PM CUT  CNN by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 13, 2014 5:32 PM CUT Surveillance footage from a White Plains, NY gas station last Tuesday shows a [car crashing into a gas pump](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/12/officer-gas-station-fire%5Fn%5F5485528.html "undefined"), causing flames to erupt. Fortunately, an off-duty police officer was at the gas station at the same time. John Vescio, a New York State Police senior investigator, sprang to action and pulled the elderly driver from the crashed car to safety. The 69-year-old driver was apparently suffering from a diabetic episode and had been trapped inside his car. Both escaped with minor injuries, and Vescio told _The Journal News_ he planned on [visiting the driver](http://www.lohud.com/story/news/crime/2014/06/10/hero-cop-talks-fiery-hutchinson-gas-station-crash/10294571/ "undefined") his first day back on duty. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2871106/watch-off-duty-cop-rescues-man-from-burning-car/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2871106/watch-off-duty-cop-rescues-man-from-burning-car/"},"headline":"Watch: Off-Duty Cop Rescues Man From Burning Car","datePublished":"2014-06-13T17:32:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:10:45.441Z","description":"Surveillance video shows the police officer dragging the driver to safety","url":"https://time.com/2871106/watch-off-duty-cop-rescues-man-from-burning-car/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Accident","fire","Crash","car"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf227c5606fd82ea/6986978c35ba6fce0ec02940/car-fire-1280x720.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf227c5606fd82ea/6986978c35ba6fce0ec02940/car-fire-1280x720.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Off-Duty Cop Rescues Man From Burning Car","caption":"","creditText":"CNN","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2871106/watch-off-duty-cop-rescues-man-from-burning-car/","name":"Watch: Off-Duty Cop Rescues Man From Burning Car"}}]}] ```