Author: ----^^^^----
Date: 11-14-06 04:53
'Angel' comes to driver's rescue
Man trapped in burning van after crashing on Highway 407
Fellow motorist breaks window and pulls victim to safety
Nov. 14, 2006. 05:46 AM
BOB MITCHELL
STAFF REPORTER
Satwinder Bajwa thought he was about to die as flames entered the passenger compartment of his crumpled cube van.
He started to pray, hoping for a miracle but ready to meet his maker.
Then, suddenly, the driver's-side window was smashed. Darren Coogan, 29, reached inside, grabbed Bajwa and dragged him out of the service vehicle through the shattered window.
Seconds later, the truck mechanic's van burst into flames.
"An angel came to help me," Bajwa, 28, said yesterday from his bed at the William Osler Health Centre's Etobicoke hospital. "The flames were already started. If he wasn't there ..."
Bajwa suffered only a right fractured pelvis in the crash, which occurred just before 11 p.m. on Saturday in the eastbound lanes of Highway 407.
But provincial police and emergency personnel said he would have burned alive had Coogan not rescued him when the paths of the two strangers from Milton unexpectedly crossed on the toll highway near the Highway 427 on-ramp.
Bajwa's vehicle was fully engulfed in flames when Brampton and Vaughan firefighters arrived on the scene.
Yesterday, Bajwa thanked Coogan from his hospital bed when they met for the first time since Saturday's near tragedy. Police said Coogan would be recommended for a life-saving citation.
"The flames already started when I pulled him out," said Coogan, who used his elbow to break the vehicle's window.
Coogan said he doesn't know what a hero is supposed to feel like, but he hasn't slept very well since Saturday night.
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`I started praying. As I started my final prayer, the window broke and he got me out'
Accident victim Satwinder Bajwa
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"I keep thinking of the worst-case scenario," he said. "What if I'd been a few minutes later? What if I'd stopped at Tim Hortons to grab a coffee on the way to work?"
Bajwa's vehicle, containing such flammable liquids as gasoline, propane and diesel fuel, crashed into a pole at the toll highway's exit after hitting a deer that was crossing the highway. His vehicle was the second of three to strike the deer, police said.
"The deer jumped in front of me," said Bajwa, who veered to the right after striking the animal.
"When the flames started, I thought this body of mine isn't mine after all. It was given to me," he said. "It's time to give it back to whoever made it.
"I started praying. As I started my final prayer, the window broke and he got me out."
Coogan was on his way to work and was a couple of hundred metres behind when he saw the van veer and crash into the ditch.
"I ran up to him and asked him if he was okay, which was a pretty stupid question considering he'd just been in an accident," Coogan said.
Because the impact of the collision had twisted the front of the van and jammed the door, Coogan asked another bystander to get a pry bar. But then he saw flames in the passenger-side footwell and on the passenger seat.
"He started screaming for help and tried to squeeze his head out the small opening at the top of the window," Coogan said. "I panicked and started smashing the window with my elbow. After two or three hits, it broke and I managed to drag him out through the window."
Fortunately for Bajwa, Coogan is usually on the day shift but was asked to work the night shift for his employer, Brennan Paving, which was working on Highway 404.
"I usually don't work nights, but I was just asked to come in and help," Coogan said.
"I guess things happen for a reason."
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