New Jersey town lauds hero after SUV accident rescue

A visiting fitness instructor was recently lauded by a New Jersey town for his daring car accident rescue. The fitness instructor was visiting a fitness center in Marlton, New Jersey this summer when he heard a SUV crash into a nearby jewelry store.

The fitness instructor sprung to action and helped save the lives of the jewelry store employees and the elderly driver. Video footage of the rescue shows the SUV crashing into the store and the fitness instructor running to the aid of the elderly driver. The fitness instructor took the driver’s foot off of the gas pedal, turned the SUV off, and helped calm the elderly driver.

“The car was still coming, I just started to scream, ‘shut it off, shut it off,’ ” a store employee said.

There was a jewelry store employee trapped under some cases which the instructor helped pull off of the woman. He then lifted another employee out of the debris and wrapped a glass wound.

“I was losing a lot of blood and he did save my life – he acted very quickly, very unselfishly,” the employee said. “If it wasn’t for him I don’t know if I would be here.”

“I could tell from the blood I wanted to secure the area, keep it above her head just till fire and EMT could get there,” the instructor said.

The fitness instructor returned to New Jersey this week and was proclaimed a hero by the town in a ceremony. The jewelry store presented the man with a wristwatch with “to our hero” engraved on the back.

Source: NBC, “Coppell Man Called a Hero After Crash,” Sept. 22, 2011