Posted: Tuesday, September 4, 2012 6:00 am | Updated: 7:31 am, Tue Sep 4, 2012.
Posted on September 4, 2012
Brian Baez says he is no hero, though he and others helped at least two people injured Monday night after the car they were traveling in hit a pole and burst into flames on northbound Route 1 in Bensalem.
The Red Roof Inn employee says he is no hero because he couldn’t save a third person who was believed to be trapped inside the car, he said late Monday night while standing across from the accident scene.
“I feel kind of helpless. I couldn’t save (the passenger),” said Baez, of Northeast Philadelphia. “I tried. I‘m sorry I couldn‘t be the hero.”
The Courier Times was unsuccessful late Monday in confirming details about the accident with Bensalem police. According to reports, Route 1 northbound was closed in the area of the accident late Monday night into early Tuesday morning.
Baez said that it appeared that the car — which he said had North Carolina plates — hit a pole shortly before 10:30 p.m.
He and at least seven other bystanders rushed to the scene and tried to put out the burning car, before firefighters arrived, using fire extinguishers they took from the hotel, which was across from the accident scene near the Street Road exit ramp.
“We wasted three fire extinguishers trying to get it out,” he said. “We ran over and tried to put it out but it was like the whole gas tank was on fire.”
He estimated the flames reached 10 feet.
Baez said the woman and another man were apparently ejected in the accident. The man, he said, did not speak and appeared to have something embedded in his head. The woman, though, kept screaming that her brother was in the car, he said.
“I feel sad I couldn’t save him,” he said. “We tried everything we could.”
Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181;
email: jciavaglia@phillyBurbs.com;
Twitter: @jociavaglia