Alexander Quinones is training to be a firefighter. He says he knows that waiting for emergency personnel would have been the right thing to do. But he says he thought the pregnant woman driver was in danger for her life and he had to act.
"I don't wake up at 8:30 this morning and expect to pull someone out of a car; I just didn't think twice about it," Alexander said.
"I feel pretty happy; I helped save someone's life today," Antonio Quinones added.
The Quinones brothers are being called heroes Friday. A Ford Focus was travelling westbound on Capitol Expressway near Vista Roma Friday morning when another car clipped its rear end and the focus flipped over.
The brothers heard the commotion outside their upstairs window and 20-year-old Alexander ran into the street and up to the car.
"I immediately see her in the car banging and kicking and I go over there and I explained to her, 'I'm just here to help you,'" Alexander said.
Antonio, 17, threw his brother a hatchet, which Alexander put to use.
"I told her that I'm going to break the glass and to turn around, turn her back towards me so the glass doesn't get in her face," Alexander said. "I hit it twice, it didn't break, by the third time it shattered."
Then Alexander says he cleared the glass from the window and as he pulled the woman from the car to safety, he heard her panicked cry.
"We pulled her out and she was so in shock that she said 'Baby! Baby!' and I actually thought there was an infant or a child in the car so I immediately started looking for a child and that's when she pointed to her stomach and she was actually pregnant," Alexander said.
The boys took her to the side of the road to wait for paramedics and police. Alexander says he doesn't consider himself a hero, just someone at the right place and time.
Alexander is actually studying to become a firefighter. He says he knows firefighters would not have approved of his rescue.
"If I would have left her in there and something would have happened, I would have felt bad about myself," he said.
Firefighters say they don't recommend people attempting this kind of rescue. They recommend calling 911.
ABC7 News was unable to reach San Jose police for an update on the condition of the driver.
