Montgomery County police on Thursday released dashboard camera footage of two officers rescuing an unconscious man from a burning car on the Capital Beltway last year.
The officers, Cody Fields and Brian Nesbitt, have been awarded the Medal of Valor—the highest award given by the department—and will be recognized at the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce’s annual public safety awards set for Friday afternoon in North Bethesda.
Police said officers were dispatched to a vehicle collision on the outer loop of the Beltway between Georgia Avenue and Connecticut Avenue at about 12:19 a.m. Sept. 1.
As officers were responding, a 911 dispatcher informed them that witnesses were reporting the vehicle involved was smoking and the driver was still inside.
Fields was the first to arrive on the scene. His vehicle’s dashboard camera showed him running to the passenger side of the burning vehicle—the driver’s side of the vehicle was against the concrete wall on the left shoulder of the highway and the engine compartment was in flames.
Police said Fields saw the driver, a 34-year-old man police referred to as “Mr. Isreal,” was unconscious and the passenger side door was locked. The video shows Fields using his baton to break the front passenger side window and smoke from inside the vehicle rushing out.
The video shows Nesbitt, who had just arrived, running to help Fields. The two were able to move Isreal out of the vehicle as the fire spread to the passenger compartment.
He was transported to a local hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries and is expected to be in attendance at the public safety awards Friday.
Fields has been a Montgomery County police officer for about three years. Nesbitt has been a county officer for about 12 years. Both officers work in the Silver Spring-based 3rd District.
