Officer

California Highway Patrol

5/16/1996

Special Act Award (Gold)

At approximately 7:45 pm, Officer Scheiffer was patrolling southbound on Interstate 5 near Interstate 215, when he observed a brown Chevrolet station wagon stalled in the northbound number four lane north of Winchester Road. Officer Schieffer turned into the center divider in an attempt to position his patrol unit to run a traffic break northbound. As he was completing his turn, the stalled Chevrolet was struck by a plumbing service truck and was facing southbound, rolling backward across all the northbound lanes. The Chevrolet came to a stop on the east gravel shoulder in close proximity to the grass/shrub embankment. Officer Schieffer parked and exited his unit. As he did so, he observed a wide trail of gasoline had ignited in the traffic lanes and was approaching the rear of the Chevrolet. Almost immediately the rear portion of the Chevrolet was engulfed in flames. Officer Schieffer retrieved his patrol unit's fire extinguisher and ran to the Chevrolet. By this time the flames in and about the Chevrolet were intense on the left side from the rear bumper to the driver's door. Officer Schieffer decided his fire extinguished would be of no use on the left side. He ran to the right side and observed a semi-conscious male who appeared trapped in the front seat. Officer Schieffer noted the right front door was jammed shut from the impact of the collision and the right front widow was closed. Officer Schieffer saw flames approaching the injured victim and broke the right front window with his fire extinguisher. Officer Schieffer reached inside the passenger compartment and grabbed for the victim. As Officer Scheiffer began pulling the victim out of his vehicle's window to safety, a citizen grabbed Officer Scheiffer's waist and assisted in pulling both Officer Schieffer and the victim to safety from a now fully engulfed vehicle.