SAN ANTONIO — Heroic heart-pounding moments caught on camera. New body camera video shows the dangerous rescue by a San Antonio police officer. Officer Bianca Garcia saved a woman trapped in a burning car.
"It did not matter to me," she said. "I was like, 'if this thing was going to blow, let it blow, but I am going to continue to get her out the car.'"
She was first on scene of a car that just crashed and caught fire at Hildebrand and Fredericksburg last Thursday. The driver got out, but her friend was still trapped inside.
"I accepted the fact it was going to explode, or projectiles were going to explode," the officer said. "You have seen plenty of vehicle fires where tires are about to burst."
The 27-year-old officer didn't have much time. She tried to pull the passenger door, but she couldn't get it to open.
"I knew one way or the other I was going to get her out," she said.
Officer Garcia ran over to the driver's side.
"I actually couldn't see her at first. All I saw was a bunch of smoke and fire."
However, through the thick smoke she eventually saw the unconscious woman's hands.
"I just kept pulling and pulling until she finally started to come loose on the passenger side."
A different camera angle showed the moments Garcia and other officers helped pull the woman out.
"Hearing my fellow brother officer's sirens around the corner gave me even more confidence that if I can't get her out, we are all going to get her out," she said.
The officer of five years said this is why she wears the badge.
"I'll lie if I say that wasn't scary at all. It is just you have to put it to the back and just keep fighting and pushing."