The quick thinking of a couple Good Samaritans may have saved the lives of young woman and her baby, after the Jeep they were driving burst into flames following a roll-over crash on Highway 1 in Abbotsford.
Will Vader, 19, and his brother Braeden, 21, were driving behind the woman’s vehicle when they witnessed the road-rage incident which led to the crash on the evening of May 13.
“The Jeep swerved off the road and flipped into the ditch. On impact, the back of the Jeep lit on fire because she had jerry cans in the back,” Vader said. “Immediately, me and my brother got out of the truck and ran up to them and broke the glass and pulled the mother and baby out.
“The flames were rising higher and higher… Two minutes later the car went into a big flameball.”
Vader took a series of videos of the flames after the woman and her child were pulled to safety.
@will.vader Short story: Me and my brother where first on scene and saved a mother and baby from a burning car, ##fyp ##foryou ##celebratenurses ##finalsathome
The Jeep and another vehicle were taking turns cutting each other off, until eventually the Jeep swerved off the road and crashed, according to Vader. He said the other driver kept driving after the crash.
“There was some back-and-forth road rage going on,” Vader said. “It all happened so fast.”
Both the woman and the other driver were at fault for the accident, according to one woman who witnessed of the accident.
“The Jeep initially brake checked the car and the [woman] fingered the driver,” she said. “The car [after driving ahead] brake checked the Jeep twice, which made the driver lose control.
“It all kind of snowballed together… In the end, this could’ve involved more than just those two vehicles, including my own, which makes me want people to chill out behind the wheel.”
Emergency crews arrived at the scene 10 to 15 minutes after the crash, according to Vader. He said he and his brother stayed with the woman until she was taken to hospital.
The Abbotsford Fire Rescue Service confirmed that when they attended the scene, both occupants were out of the vehicle and only suffered from minor injuries. They said that the RCMP Traffic Services were responsible for any following investigations.
The News reached out to RCMP Traffic Services to ask for details about the crash and the vehicle which fled the scene, but the media officer said there was no file on the accident.
VIDEO: Road rage incident that ends in crash caught on camera in Lower Mainland
