VIDEO: Police rescue woman from car fire ‘seconds’ before death

SYCAMORE TWP., Ohio (FOX19) - Dramatic video shows first responders rescue a woman from a burning car in Sycamore Township last weekend.

Montgomery police say 60-year-old Mary Thress, owner of Nothing Bundt Cakes in Mason, was heading to meet friends but suffered a diabetic emergency behind a church on Fields Ertle Road.

Thress says when she didn’t show, her friends reached out to Montgomery Police Officer Rich Riley and told him she could be having a medical emergency.

Police say Thress was unconscious with the car running, and her foot was stuck on the accelerator, causing the tires of her car to spin wildly and ignite the brush beneath them.

A Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy and an off-duty Evendale police sergeant were first to arrive alongside Riley.

The first responders shot out a window, after which flames rushed out from underneath the car and nearly engulfed them. They were only just able to rescue Thress.

“She was seconds away from being burned alive,” a Montgomery police captain told FOX19 NOW.

Thress suffered severe burns to her left arm and leg. She is out of the hospital and recovering from home but faces a future surgery on her elbow.

“Next thing I know, I am in the ER, and then I was told what happened, and then I started having flashbacks,’ she said. “I remember being pulled out of the car and screaming because I could see flames and everything.”

She says she’s thankful to the first responders who came to her aid.

Riley is being treated for several injuries, including a second-degree burn to his hand from when he reached into Thress’s car. The injury is to his shooting hand, so he will be off active duty for some time, police say.

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