Hero dad pulls crash victim from burning car

Bodden Town father and plumber Dwight Barnes has been hailed as a hero, after he rescued a young crash victim from a burning car in the early hours of Saturday morning.

However, Barnes, 54, speaking with the Cayman Compass on Monday, said he just did what he thought was necessary at the time.

“I couldn’t just stand there and know someone was in need of help and I could have tried… So I just did it. Thank God everything went well and the car never exploded while I was there and everything was good,” he said.

He said he hoped that others would do the same if he, or his children, were in the same situation.

Race to rescue

Barnes, who has four children and seven grandchildren, said the whole situation unfolded quickly before his eyes.

He recalled heading home around 3:30am on Saturday when he noticed, in his rearview mirror, a car overtaking vehicles near Will T Road off Shamrock Road.

It also overtook his vehicle.

He said a short while later, as he neared Watler’s Estate, he saw a commotion and that same car had crashed.

As he got closer, he saw the fire had started at the front of the car.

Although he has no formal first aid training, Barnes said he knew he had to take action when he saw the flames were rising.

He pulled aside and got out of his car.

Nearby residents, he said, were running out of their homes and asking if there was anyone in the car.

“I said ‘I don’t know, I don’t know’. I started to see the fire getting bigger and bigger. So I decided I needed to check and see if someone was in the car. I approached the car with caution and when I finally opened the passenger side, I saw there was someone lying across the seat – from the driver’s seat to the passenger side,” he said.

Video posted to social media shows flames lapping at the car and loud pops can be heard coming from the vehicle.

In spite of this, Barnes said he grabbed the male driver under the shoulders and tried to pull him out of the car.

“Gradually I got him out and had him on the ground and pulled him approximately 40-50 feet away from the car. One of the bystanders was calling the emergency services so I just stood there with him. One young lady there was trying to calm him down because he was going ‘oh my car, my car’,” he said.

Barnes said he also checked the inside of the car to make sure there was no-one else trapped.

He said he knew the risk he took, but that it was no different to those taken regularly by first responders. When those responders arrived on the scene, they thanked Barnes for his courage.

‘Give me a second, I’m dragging someone out the car’

His daughter, Tracey Barnes-Fagan, who happened to come upon the same collision Saturday morning, said while she was proud of her father’s heroic actions, she admitted seeing him rush towards a burning car was terrifying.

“I didn’t even know it was him. I saw someone was pulling someone out the car, but because it was so dark, you could just see the blaze of the fire. I didn’t even know that it was him until I passed the trees and realised ‘that car looks like my dad’s car’. I got concerned. When I phoned him, he just said ‘give me a second, give me a second, I’m dragging somebody out the car’,” she said.

Barnes-Fagan said she parked quickly and rushed over to the scene, where she found her father with the injured driver.

“Luckily, he got him out in time because the car just lit right up. I didn’t know a car can crash like that and instantly be on fire,” she added.

She said by the time the ambulance and fire trucks reached them, the fire had already reached the back seat of the vehicle.

She said if her father hadn’t acted so quickly, the consequences could have been fatal.

“My dad had to tug him from underneath the wheel,” she recalled.

But Barnes-Fagan also expressed disappointment and concern that at least three vehicles passed the collision and none stopped to offer assistance or call 911.

Be safe on the roads

Barnes said the injured driver’s father had been in touch with him and said he was doing well. He said the man’s father also thanked him for his bravery.

The driver suffered a broken ankle and a concussion from the crash, Barnes said.

But, for Barnes, Saturday’s crash was a reminder of how dangerous Cayman’s roads can be.

“They need to slow down… If they cannot manage driving, call a taxi or call a friend or someone that can take them home, because life is too precious,” he said.

Police, in a statement Monday evening, said the driver in the incident remains in hospital where he is being treated for “serious but non-life-threatening-injuries”.

The single-vehicle crash occurred on Shamrock Road, Bodden Town, in the vicinity of Brightview Drive, police said, adding that anyone with information about the circumstances of the collision is encouraged to call the Bodden Town Police Station at 947-2220.