A DeKalb County gas station was the scene of a dramatic rescue early Thursday when an out-of-control car slammed into gas pumps and erupted into flames.
The car, which was involved in a collision at the intersection of Clairmont and Briarcliff roads near I-85, careened out of control into the pumps at the Chevron station on the corner. The car and two gas pumps caught fire.
Edgar Evans, who works as a night watchman at a nearby auto repair shop, saw the crash and ran to help the driver.
“You could see the expression on the guy's face as he whizzed past me,” Evans told AM750 and now 95.5FM News/Talk WSB. “He was scared, he was out of control, there was nothing he could do.”
Evans said that as he ran up to the car, flames were “already everywhere,” and the driver told him, “I can’t get out, I can’t get out.”
“I popped his seat belt off and tried to grab him, but his head was hooked in the air bag,” Evans told WSB.
Evans said he grabbed the man “like in a full nelson” and was able to pull him from the burning car.
He said the man, who appeared to be in his 50s, told him he worked at the Veterans Administration Medical Center.
Evans credited God and a burst of adrenalin for giving him the strength to help the motorist.
“Three or four days ago, I couldn’t even walk,” he told the station, recounting a trip to the hospital emergency room earlier this week.
“They said I had rheumatoid arthritis,” he said. “But God gave me the energy and strength to reach in there and get him out. I just thank God the guy’s all right.”
The car and two gas pumps were heavily damaged by the fire, along with one end of the canopy covering the station's pumps.
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