A 72-year-old man driving a black Mercedes-Benz lost control of his car and smashed into the center divider of the 405 freeway. The car caught fire and that's when several heroes jumped in and pulled the man out of the burning car.
One of them, Don Thompson, a 26-year veteran of the LAPD Bomb Squad happened to be on his way to work. His shift started early.
"I reached in there and I fumbled a bit more. Thank goodness I found that button and popped the belt, and grabbed him and pulled him out," he recalled.
Thompson got some help from a Los Angeles firefighter who was also driving by.
Thompson suffered some first and second-degree burns in the holiday rescue, but he'll be OK. The driver went to a nearby hospital.
