Tow truck driver pulls unconscious driver out of burning car

'He saved my life,' Isaiah Habersham says of driver he rescued

SUNRISE, Fla. – Tow truck driver Isaiah Habersham said he was just trying to help when he risked his life to save a stranger from a burning car.

Habersham was driving Monday on Sunrise Boulevard, preparing to get on Florida's Turnpike, when he saw the car on fire.

Habersham and another bystander pulled over, looked inside the car and realized there was a man unconscious in the driver's seat.

"We tried knocking on the window to get him to open the door," Habersham said. "Nothing."

Habersham said he went back to his truck to get an ax, which he used to smash the window and pull the unconscious man out.

"I don't want nobody to burn alive," Habersham said. "I can't live with that."

The driver had regained consciousness by the time paramedics arrived and was taken to Broward Health North in serious condition.

Habersham said he doesn't consider himself a hero. He said saving the driver helped to put his own life into perspective.

"He saved my life because I was thinking about a whole bunch of negative stuff that day, so he kind of saved me," Habersham said.


About the Author:

Jenise Fernandez joined the Local 10 News team in November 2014. She is thrilled to be back home reporting for the station she grew up watching. Jenise, who is from Miami and graduated from Florida International University, also interned at Local 10 while she was in college.