Officer saves mother and son from car moments before it bursts into flames

By Hope Dean

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    ATLANTA, Georgia (WANF) — A Rome Police Department officer is being recognized after he helped free a mother and her son from their car just moments before it burst into flames, the department said.

Officer Dow Turrentine was helping with a traffic stop on Wednesday when he heard a nearby three-car crash at Highway 411 and Mathis Road, the police department said. Body camera footage shows him running to the scene, where a woman and her young son were trapped in a crumpled and smoking SUV.

Turrentine and two Good Samaritans cut through the airbags, getting the two out of the car before flames swallowed the vehicle.

The mother is currently recovering from knee surgery at Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center, while her son is safe at home after being cleared by emergency room physicians, police said.

“Although the personnel we employ as representatives of the Rome Police Department are trained to respond and react in dangerous and life-threatening situations such as the accident described, we still are amazed and grateful for the immediate call-to-action and level of response that our officers present,” the police department said in a statement.

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