Providence policeman rescues woman, baby from burning Jeep
A police officer pulled a woman and her baby from a burning Jeep Cherokee early yesterday, moments after the vehicle crashed into a synagogue on Hope Street and burst into flames, the police said.
Patrolman Robert Braddock Jr. saw a Jeep heading north on Hope Street near Hope High School at 4:30 a.m., shortly after being alerted that a vehicle fitting that description had been seen traveling at a high rate of speed the wrong way on Thayer Street, Lt. Paul Campbell said.
The 1995 Jeep ran the red light at Hope and Olney streets and crashed into the Chabad House, a synagogue and Jewish hospitality house at 360-362 Hope St., Chief Dean M. Esserman said. Braddock, who was following it at the time, did not see brake lights before the Jeep hit the triple-decker and its engine block burst into flames, said Esserman.
The chief was among the first officers on the scene because he was on his way home from responding to a homicide on Valley Street.
Braddock broke a passenger-side window and saw 11-month-old Aysharin Sar crying on the floor behind the front seat, said Campbell, Braddock’s supervisor in the Fox Point area. Braddock took the baby from the burning vehicle and then pried the driver’s door open to free the unconscious Chantria Sar from behind the steering wheel, Campbell said.
Sar, 20, of Lowell, Mass., and her son were the only occupants of the Jeep. No charges were filed, but the investigation is ongoing, Campbell said.
Braddock dragged the Sars away from the burning car and officers evacuated four people from the third floor and one person from the house next door without injuries, seconds before the front end of the Jeep exploded, Esserman said.
“He’s a hero,” Esserman said of Braddock.
Braddock, a four-year veteran of the force, declined a request for comment.
Chantria Sar was taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where she was in stable condition yesterday, Campbell said. Her son was taken to Hasbro Children’s Hospital.
The baby was transferred yesterday to a hospital in Boston, so doctors could do additional checks on his lungs, said Lucky Souvann, who identified himself as Aysharian’s father and Chantria’s boyfriend. He said mother and son would be OK.
The incident was reported to social workers with Family Services of Rhode Island, Esserman said.
The front of the Jeep remained wedged into Chabad House’s foundation throughout the day yesterday as workers from Multistate Restoration labored to shore the structure up so the vehicle could be removed without causing the building’s collapse, said Kerry A. Anderson, chief of structures and zoning for the city.
Flames scorched up the length of the three-story building, but most of the damage was structural and not due to the fire, Anderson said.
“The building’s not a total loss, but it’s going to take a lot of work,” he said. The scene drew onlookers from the nearby farmer’s market throughout the morning.
Worshipers at the Chabad House attended services in the yard behind the damaged synagogue yesterday, but declined to speak because it was the Sabbath.
Firefighters retrieved the Torah from the burning building at the rabbi’s request, Esserman said.
source: projo
