Police in Maine are praising a group of Good Samaritans who helped pull a woman and her 2-month-old son from a burning van after it was involved in a crash on Tuesday.
Topsham police said they responded to a report of a crash on Middlesex Road near the Bowdoinham town line around 6:20 p.m. Tuesday. A van had reportedly crashed into a tree and caught on fire.
When police and firefighters arrived, they found a 2006 Toyota Sienna van engulfed in flames. The occupants had already been removed from the van by numerous citizens who stopped at the scene. They reportedly had to break the windows of the van to gain access to them.
Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters.
"By the time we were beating on the windows trying to get into the vehicle to get to these folks there had to be at least a dozen other random Good Samaritan folks who stopped because it was the right thing to do," Amanda Campbell, one of those who rushed to help, told News Center Maine.
"It could have ended very differently if we hadn't all come together," she added.
The driver of the van, Kyndric Stewart, 25, of Lewiston, suffered a broken leg and other internal injuries in the crash. She was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston for treatment. Her 2-month-old son was not seriously injured but was also taken to Central Maine Medical Center as a precaution.
Excessive speed is believed to have contributed to the crash, Topsham police said. The crash remains under investigation and charges could be forthcoming.
