Woodmere man rescues driver from fiery crash, with video rolling

Alan Fein, 58, said he was lifting his luggage out of a Lyft car in front of his Woodmere home as he returned from a business trip shortly after midnight Thursday when he saw an SUV barrel around the corner, crash into a utility pole and burst into flames.

Fein, a nursing home consultant, said he called 911, walked toward the fire and ended up pulling the SUV's driver out of his burning vehicle.

"Before I even put my carry-on down, all hell broke loose," he said.

The blue 2018 Mercedes SUV failed to make the turn onto Elm Street from Broadway, before striking the pole — splitting it into two — and ending up in a neighbor's circular driveway, Fein said.

"You hear this massive crunch," he said. "There is so much debris in front of my house, you have to imagine there were two cars" that had crashed. "It ended up being one."

While calling 911, he approached the crash and came upon one man sitting on his neighbor's low wall not far from the SUV. The hood had already caught fire, he said.

"He was looking down and one hand was bloody ... I said to the guy, 'Is there anybody still in there?'" Fein recalled.

He continued, "I see the seat belt move, and I'm like ... there is somebody in the car and the hood is on fire."

Cellphone video shot by Fein provides glimpses of the scene and his rescue efforts.

"We got to get out of here!" a man's voice shouts while another is heard grimacing in pain in the background. "I know it hurts," the first man says.

The driver, later identified as Willie Bryant, 54, of Far Rockaway, suffered two broken ankles in the crash, according to Nassau County police.

"I'm looking down at his feet, I'm like, 'Holy crap,' this guy's feet were like mangled ... they were like pointing in different ways," Fein said.

The driver apparently had managed to unfasten his seat belt though it was still wrapped around him and he had to be roused, said Fein, who tore through the side air bag to reach him. "It felt like four hours; I guess it must have been 15 or 20 seconds before he finally said 'OK.' "

In the video footage Fein provided, you can hear a man's voice say, "I'll pull you" while the camera gets shakier, and another voice responds: "Pull me."

"Obviously, I was more concerned about the fire and getting him out," Fein said. "Obviously, he was in a lot of pain."

Fein said he got the man on the ground, on his back and dragged him by his coat to safety.

Before the footage ends, a voice shouts: "We got somebody hurt over here, quickly!" while emergency lights flicker nearby.

According to Nassau police, when officers arrived at the scene they found a Mercedes ablaze and two men lying outside the vehicle, one of whom was Bryant. He had glassy, bloodshot eyes, and his breath smelled of alcohol, police said. Police could not confirm Fein rescued Bryant from the vehicle.

Bryant was later arrested and charged with DWI, third-degree assault and driving without a license, according to police. His 43-year-old passenger broke his collarbone and had multiple cracked ribs. Both men were taken to the hospital to be treated for their injuries. Bryant will be arraigned after he is medically cleared.

Firefighters and police kept the fire from spreading to any surrounding homes or property, police said.

Friday morning found Fein still absorbing what happened. "It's heavy," he said.

The nearly fatal crash had frightened his 17-year-old daughter, who had come outside after she heard the collision, and did not know what had become of her father, he said.

"She got really nervous; I left my bag there ... she comes out and all she sees is her father's carry-on and the mess in the street," Fein said.

Fein said he considers both himself and Bryant lucky.

"I was lucky because he didn't show up 20 seconds earlier, and I guess he was lucky he didn't show up 30 seconds later when I would have been in my house."