An off-duty New London police officer was among a group of people who helped pull a man out of his car and into safety during the tanker fire on the Gold Star Bridge in Groton Friday.
“I’ve always wanted to serve my community. This time, it was caught on camera,” New London Police Lieutenant Cornelius Rodgers said.
Whether off or on duty, Rodgers is always ready. His instincts kicked in when he saw a fuel tanker on fire Friday morning and a wrecked car on the Gold Star Bridge in Groton.
“I started to see the smoke and the flames and then I saw a gentleman with a cell phone, and he was running to the car. That made me realize that someone was stuck in the car,” he said.
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Lt. Rodgers was caught on video in a white hoodie running toward the car.
“I didn’t realize where the damage was on the car until I got to the driver’s side and then I realized I wasn’t going to be able to open it,” he said.
The flames were inching toward the wreck.
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“I felt the heat coming. I actually started to feel like my shoes were starting to melt. That right there was a cue to me that we needed to hurry up,” Lt. Rodgers said.
Seeing the man was unresponsive with his legs pinned inside, a split-second decision was made to pull the man out the other side. Lt. Rodgers got help from two other people.
“Once I pulled him out, I was like, 'Let’s go, let’s go let’s go.' It was a team effort all around. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be able to pull them out that far,” he said.
They pulled him 200 yards to safety, where Rodgers flagged down a Groton police officer. He says there was a lot to process.
“It’s just starting to hit me. A lot of people have called me and congratulated me on something that I just thought anyone should do for someone,” Lt. Rodgers said.
While being called a hero, Lt. Rodgers wanted to send condolences to the tanker driver, 42-year-old Wallace Fauquet III of Stonington, who died in the crash.
“He has four kids. Every day he went to work, took care of his family and they looked to him as a hero,” Rodgers said.
Lt. Rodgers says during this moment of crisis, whether it was himself or others, the best of New London County came out to help.
“We’re all human beings and I would hope that someone would do that for me,” he said.
The man who was pulled out was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
