Couple celebrating 30th anniversary help save drivers from fiery wreck, Florida cops say
A couple heading home from an anniversary trip are being celebrated as heroes for jumping in to save two drivers involved in a head-on collision, a Florida sheriff’s office said.
Mr. and Mrs. Cardwell, whose first names were not released, celebrated their 30-year wedding anniversary in Destin, Florida, about 70 miles southwest of their home in Geneva, Alabama, according to a March 3 Facebook post from the Walton County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said the Cardwells were reminiscing about their celebration on the “winding roads of County Highway 185” on the “particularly dark” night of March 2 when a car came up fast behind them.
“In their rearview, though, came two bright lights. Headlights. They were closing in fast,” the sheriff’s office said. “In a flash, the vehicle passed them in a blur, disappearing into the night.”
The Cardwells kept driving, but soon they came upon a crash, deputies said.
A driver had collided with the front of another vehicle, the sheriff’s office said, and one of the cars was already billowing smoke when the Cardwells arrived.
As Mrs. Cardwell called 911, Mr. Cardwell noticed the smoking car had caught fire and realized it was the same car that passed them earlier, the sheriff’s office said.
“No matter. This person, whoever they were, was in danger. As quickly as he passed them in the night, Mr. Cardwell pulled the driver from the car as it was (engulfed) in flames before running to help the second driver who was pinned in their vehicle,” the sheriff’s office said.
As Mr. Cardwell worked to free the driver, emergency services arrived, deputies said, and soon the driver was safely removed from the wrecked vehicle.
The conditions of the drivers were not released, but they both survived the crash, according to the sheriff’s office.
“In our eyes, Mr. and Mrs. Cardwell are heroes,” the sheriff’s office said. “Had they not stopped and helped, the driver may have died in those flames.”
Geneva is about 120 miles northwest of Tallahassee.
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