Body camera footage captured a Colorado deputy's quick actions to rescue a dog trapped inside a burning SUV.
The incident happened Jan. 22 when Douglas County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Gregorek responded to a call of a vehicle on fire, according to a department video posted online. When he reached the scene, he found a man who was upset because his dog, Hank, was still in the SUV.
Using a retractable baton, Gregorek smashed the back windshield. Another person at the scene doused the burning SUV with a fire extinguisher.
Once the window was broken, Hank's owner tried to pull him out of the vehicle, but the man was overcome by the smoke. Gregorek then reached in and was able to extricate the dog from the SUV.
“I just went in there, grabbed on and his body had already started to tense up so I knew he was really in a bad way, and so I thought only at that point ‘he’s coming out with me,'” said Gregorek in the video. “Nothing else really mattered at that point than getting Hank out of the car.”
Gregorek can be seen running from the burning vehicle with Hank before letting the dog down on the snowy ground. A neighborhood veterinarian looked over Hank, who wasn't injured.
