Dramatic video shows a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper pulling a woman from a burning car.
The officer raced to the scene of a car crash near 58 Highway and Holmes in Belton, Mo. last week. Police said driver Benjamin Clark ran a red light and hit the car Becky Crawford was driving.
It was Tuesday, Feb. 2 when Crawford was driving near her neighborhood, turning on a road she’s turned on thousands of times before.
“She was leaving to go meet her dad for lunch, every Tuesday,” her husband, Ron Crawford, said.
Becky Crawford never made it to lunch on that Tuesday. She was hit by Benjamin Clark, who authorities said was speeding at 101 mph. Becky Crawford’s car caught fire and she was trapped, until Missouri State Trooper Jim Thuss ran to her rescue.
“I went through the passenger side door, she was conscious, but I could tell severely injured. I undid her seatbelt, assisted her across the console out the passenger side and then carried her up the hill to a safe location,” Thuss explained. "I just feel like I just happened to be the one there, that's what I'm supposed to do, that’s what I'm getting paid to do, and had it been another officer there he would have done the same."
Ron Crawford spoke with him and thanked him for his heroic work. “He's a genuine hero, and of course he modestly said that he was just doing his job. But you know, these guys go out every day and they put their lives on the line for us."
Ron Crawford believes God was with his wife that Tuesday, protecting her from the intense impact and putting Thuss there to save her.
“It is the reality that God is real, he is here, and he intervenes as he chooses in human affairs and there is no question in my mind that this is divine intervention."
Becky Crawford is still receiving medical treatment for her broken bones, burns, cuts and bruises. Doctors do expect her to make a full recovery.
Clark faces several charges, including resisting arrest.
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Lexi Sutter can be reached at alexandra.sutter@kshb.com.
