‘Heroes’ saved driver from burning car

Truck driver Guillermo Shelton usually avoids the traffic on Interstate 95, but “for some reason,” he happened to be on a particular stretch of the highway, in Stafford County, on Feb. 29.

The North Carolina man saw a car, involved in an accident, go over a Jersey wall and catch on fire. He also saw “everybody taking videos and nobody stopping to check on the driver,” he said.

Shelton parked his rig in the middle lane of 95, got his fire extinguisher and hopped the wall to get to the driver.

Austin Leonard, a nearby construction worker, saw what was happening and joined him. Together, the two were able to remove the entrapped driver, even as heavy smoke billowed around them.

“They dragged the victim to safety and about 30 seconds later, the car burst into flames,” said Stafford Fire Chief Joseph Cardello, noting that the responding fire truck arrived about 90 seconds later. “I don’t know that (the driver) could have survived for another minute and a half.”

Cardello and members of the Stafford Board of Supervisors thanked the two “citizen heroes” for their actions that day. Leonard wasn’t able to attend Tuesday’s board meeting and will be recognized at a later date.

Shelton and his wife drove five hours from North Carolina to receive the proclamation from Board Chair Meg Bohmke. He nodded as Cardello described the incident, then shook hands with board members, who, along with those in the audience, stood and applauded.

When Bohmke handed Shelton the microphone, he said he normally takes Interstate 81 to avoid the 95 congestion that local motorists know so well.

“But that day, for some reason, God put me there, and thank God He did because I was there at the right time, the right second,” Shelton told the group.

Shelton turned to the fire chief and said he thought the driver would have perished if he hadn’t been on the interstate at that time, and Cardello agreed. In texts with The Free Lance-Star, Shelton said he hopes to talk with the driver one day about what happened.

“It really was a miracle,” Shelton said.

The chief and others at the fire station watched the scene unfold. They were having lunch when a call was dispatched about a person trapped in a burning vehicle on 95. The firefighters checked out Virginia Department of Transportation cameras and were able to see things in live time. They saw the burning car, resting on the other side of the Jersey wall. They didn’t see any movement in the front seat.

“We couldn’t tell if the driver was OK or not,” Cardello said.

After Shelton stopped his truck and hopped the wall, Leonard came into the picture, and it took the two men 30 seconds to a minute to free the driver.

“As they worked, the smoke got a lot heavier,” the fire chief said.

The fire truck arrived about 90 seconds after the car burst into flames.