A Kansas City police detective and a Clay County sheriff’s deputy pulled a 70-year-old driver from a burning pickup on Interstate 35, moving him away moments before the truck exploded, authorities and local news reports said.
The Sept. 15 rescue near Claycomo, Missouri, became public in detail Wednesday when law-enforcement agencies released video and accounts of the officers’ actions.
Two officers converge on a burning truck
The driver was traveling south on I-35 near the Interstate 435 interchange at about 3:30 p.m. when his white Ford F-150 caught fire, according to KSHB 41.
Kansas City Police Department Detective Jason Findley had just finished work and was also headed south when he saw the burning vehicle. He stopped, ran toward the pickup and found the cab filling with heavy black smoke.
Clay County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chase Blatt was traveling nearby when he spotted the smoke and pulled over. KSHB reported that Blatt was off duty at the time.
Video released with the agency accounts shows Findley pulling the disoriented driver from the pickup as Blatt arrives to help move him farther away. The truck later exploded. The officers pulled the man back again when burning debris began flying from the vehicle, KMBC reported.
The driver was taken to a hospital for treatment of burns to his legs. Authorities did not publicly identify him in the reports reviewed by Thin Blue News.
“The opportunity is there”
Findley said the rescue felt surreal after a career spent preparing to help people when an emergency arrives.
“You train your entire career to help people, and then all of a sudden, the opportunity is there,” Findley told KSHB.
Blatt described stopping as a natural extension of the job, even outside a scheduled shift.
“We’re officers, deputies. We feel like we don’t stop,” Blatt said. “It feels like I was there for the purpose I was meant to be there for.”
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office said the outcome could have been far worse without Findley and Blatt. Their response brought two officers from different agencies to the same stretch of highway at the moment a driver needed them.
Sources
- Kansas City Police Department — KCPD detective and Clay County deputy rescue driver from burning truck
- KMBC 9 — Kansas City detective, Clay County deputy save driver from burning truck
- KSHB 41 — Off-duty deputy, KCPD detective rescue man on I-35 near Claycomo
- FOX 4 Kansas City — Clay County deputy and KCPD detective rescue man from burning truck
Thin Blue News reviewed the official KCPD release URL and multiple local reports published Sept. 30. The featured image is an original non-documentary editorial illustration because no transferable right to republish third-party incident pixels was established.