East San Jose heroes honored for pulling man from burning car

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors honored East San Jose cousins Carlos Ortiz and Robert Valencia on Wednesday for their heroism the night of August 17.

This story is from ABC7 News' alliance with Univision 14.

Supervisor Dave Cortese presented the men with commendation plaques.

Ortiz, 19, and Valencia, 20, witnessed a violent crash on Ocala Avenue near Capitol Expressway. A Mercedes hit another car, rolled, hit more cars and then caught on fire.

"You know, we were just looking at the guy on fire and he was just sitting there and we were like, 'We can't just leave him there.' And we just went in, not caring, and just pulled his legs out and my cousin grabbed him by the body and I grabbed him by the feet and we just pulled him out," Valencia said.

The two used their sweatshirts to put out the flames and stayed with that victim until paramedics arrived.

Univision 14 contributed to this story.