FORD
04-22-2004, 10:08 AM
Lord a-mighty....feel my temperature risin.........
Cops rescue burning Elvis in gas blast
By MICHELE McPHEE
DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU CHIEF
Elvis lives - thanks to the NYPD.
Elvis Radbir, 22, of Queens accidentally set himself on fire Saturday by lighting a cigarette in his car seconds after he fueled a portable generator at a gas station.
As he ran from his car, engulfed in fire like a human torch, he was spotted by two 106th Precinct patrol cops who happened to be at the Ozone Park gas station with their radio car.
Officers Thomas Weber and Stephen Clifford rushed over to the burning man and smothered the flames with their bodies, hurling Radbir to the ground and rolling on top of him while beating back the fire with rags.
The dramatic rescue was caught by the surveillance camera at the 98th St. and Rockaway Blvd. gas station.
The video shows Radbir putting the gassed-up generator in the cab of his pickup truck, then sitting behind the wheel. He turns the vehicle's ignition, but before pulling out of the station, he lights a cigarette, sparking an instant inferno.
Radbir was in serious condition yesterday at the Weill Cornell Medical Center burn unit, with his mother, Devi, at his bedside.
His younger brother, Nicholas, 15, said his sibling was lucky to be alive.
"The police were there. They did the right thing," Nicholas Radbir said from the family's Ozone Park home. "It was good of them, the police."
The victim's sister, Jessica, 13, also was grateful to the officers who saved her brother's life. "I'm glad the police helped him," she said. "I want him to come home."
Cops rescue burning Elvis in gas blast
By MICHELE McPHEE
DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU CHIEF
Elvis lives - thanks to the NYPD.
Elvis Radbir, 22, of Queens accidentally set himself on fire Saturday by lighting a cigarette in his car seconds after he fueled a portable generator at a gas station.
As he ran from his car, engulfed in fire like a human torch, he was spotted by two 106th Precinct patrol cops who happened to be at the Ozone Park gas station with their radio car.
Officers Thomas Weber and Stephen Clifford rushed over to the burning man and smothered the flames with their bodies, hurling Radbir to the ground and rolling on top of him while beating back the fire with rags.
The dramatic rescue was caught by the surveillance camera at the 98th St. and Rockaway Blvd. gas station.
The video shows Radbir putting the gassed-up generator in the cab of his pickup truck, then sitting behind the wheel. He turns the vehicle's ignition, but before pulling out of the station, he lights a cigarette, sparking an instant inferno.
Radbir was in serious condition yesterday at the Weill Cornell Medical Center burn unit, with his mother, Devi, at his bedside.
His younger brother, Nicholas, 15, said his sibling was lucky to be alive.
"The police were there. They did the right thing," Nicholas Radbir said from the family's Ozone Park home. "It was good of them, the police."
The victim's sister, Jessica, 13, also was grateful to the officers who saved her brother's life. "I'm glad the police helped him," she said. "I want him to come home."