SALT LAKE CITY — The bystanders had to act quickly. A motorcyclist had just collided with a car and was pinned beneath the flaming wreckage.
Disregarding their own safety, they lined up on one side of the car. And slowly, they managed to lift the roughly 4,000- pound car just high enough for a rescuer to pull Brandon Wright to safety.
They are being called “heroes” and “angels” — and their few minutes of heroics was captured on video and has gone viral on the Internet.
“I’m just very thankful for everyone that helped me out,” Wright said from his hospital bed. “They saved my life.”
Most of those who helped left.
“Every one of those people put their lives in danger,” Assistant Police Chief Jeff Curtis said, adding that “you can only speculate what the outcome would have been if they hadn’t lifted that car.”
The crash happened near Utah State University in Logan, about 90 miles north of Salt Lake City.
Wright’s uncle, Tyler Riggs, said Wright was headed to study at a computer lab at the school.
The car, a BMW, was pulling out of a parking lot.
Tire and skid marks on the highway showed that Wright laid the bike down and slid along the road before colliding with the car, Curtis said.
The video, shot by university staffer Chris Garff, shows a crowd gathering around the burning wreckage as flames shoot into the air. They lifted the car, and one person pulled Wright out.
Riggs said Wright remembered details from the crash and told his family that he felt scared and could see and feel the flames.
“He remembers being under the car, spitting up blood and not being able to talk,” Riggs said.
Riggs said Wright has not seen the video of the rescue.
Despite not wearing a helmet, Riggs said, Wright suffered no head trauma. Wright does have two broken legs, a broken pelvis, road rash, burns on his left foot and abrasions to his forehead. The hospital said Wright was in satisfactory condition.
The driver of the car, John Johnson, had minor injuries.
