Off-duty officer, another driver pull man from burning car in Manassas

MANASSAS, Va. (FOX 5 DC)  - The aftermath of a burning car rescue was all caught on an off-duty police officer’s body camera in Northern Virginia late Saturday night. 

“I was just driving home off duty,” explained Lt. Dustin Walker, with the City of Manassas Park Police Department. “I watched him drive straight into a couple of parked cars.”

“I heard the impact and I got to my front porch and the cars were already in flames,” explained Brian Hood, who lives on Lomond Drive, where the crash took place. 

“It was horrifying,” said Hood. “The flames were at least thirty feet in the air.” 

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The aftermath was all captured on Walker’s body camera.

“The vehicle that had initially passed me they had stopped and a male subject got out and I could tell he was running up behind me as I got out of my car,” explained Walker.

“And then he runs over to the car that was already on fire,” said Ardit Mahmut, the other driver who stopped to help. “We ran toward the car and most of it was on fire and the officer pulls the door open and we grabbed the guy and we ran across the street.”

Mahmut said just 45 minutes prior to the fiery crash, he had assisted with another accident.

Investigators said the driver involved in the crash on Lomond Drive was under the influence and was charged. Police said no one was hurt. 

“I don’t think any of the other officers I work with or have worked with would have done anything different and I think that’s our duty,” said Walker.

“Another Saturday night on Lomond Drive, that’s all it was,” said Hood.

Walker said the department is planning to honor and recognize Mahmut for his bravery in assisting the officer with the rescue.