Cop saves driver trapped inside car after fiery crash

‘I could hear her screaming,’ officer says

PEMBROKE PINES — The vehicle hit a palm tree, overturned and burst into flames, but the driver sustained only minor injuries because of the quick work of a cop.

Pembroke Pines police Officer Melodie Parke, 43, is being credited with pulling the trapped driver from the burning car about 1 a.m. Thursday in the 12800 block of Pines Boulevard.

“I could hear her screaming, ‘ Help me, help me. Get me out of here,’” Parke said. “My first reaction was trying to kick the window in to get her out and then I just grabbed the door and started tugging on it.”

She pried open the driver’s side door of the flipped Infiniti G35 and pulled the woman to safety.

“I just kind of got her away from the car as quick as possible because I wasn’t really sure if something was going to start exploding,” she said.

Parke was patrolling the parking lot of a shopping plaza at Pines Boulevard and Flamingo Road when the call came in. She was closest to the crash scene and arrived in moments.

“I’d say she was a mess when I got her out of the car,” Parke said. “She said, ‘I should have died in that car.’”

The sprinklers had been on in the area and the road was wet, Parke said.

“She vaguely remembered she was going to McDonalds and she realized she passed the turn,” Parke said. “She’s not sure if she tapped the brakes or not but the sprinklers were on and she hit some water on the road and the next thing she knows … she completely lost control of her car.”

It hit a palm tree and rolled over in the median. All lanes of Pines Boulevard near 129th Avenue were closed to traffic for at least an hour during the investigation and debris cleanup, officials said.

Parke, a 16-year member of the police force, credits her training on the Crisis Response Team for staying focused.

“I’m surprised at myself and the lack of hesitation, you know, but when I actually heard her screaming … everything else got blocked out and I was like, do what you got to do to get her out,” she said.

“My heart was definitely racing after, like wow,” she said. “But I was more concerned for her because she was on an emotional roller coaster.”

The driver was treated on scene for cuts and scrapes, she said.

Parke