Hero cop cites others in truck rescue
Published: May 17, 2006
He was honored Tuesday as a hero - a motorcycle cop who helped save a man trapped in his burning pickup truck - but LAPD Sgt. Christopher Kunz said another man, a passer-by whose name he never learned, deserved the lion’s share of the credit.
Together the two, and a third witness, saved the life of Andreas Orihuela, 39, pinned May 5 in the wreckage of his truck as flames seared his arm and leg and burned away a sleeve of his jacket.
Kunz came across the scene at 4:20 a.m. as he headed south on Interstate 5 from his Newhall home to his early shift at the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Traffic Division in West L.A.
Near Roxford Street traffic slowed, unusual in these hours before dawn, and Kunz, 39, sped ahead on his motorcycle to see whether he might be able to help.
“It was a full-size pickup truck with a tool bed box, it appeared it had rear-ended a semitruck,” Kunz said. “It was devastated, the front of the truck was gone, the windshield was broken. It was on fire.
“Then some citizens pointed out a man was still inside.”
The driver-side door was jammed, so Kunz opened the passenger door and found Orihuela inside, pinned in place by the steering wheel.
“I figured the most pressing business was the fire, so I commandeered fire extinguishers from four or five big rigs on the freeway,” the 17-year department veteran said. “While I was doing that, a citizen was giving him comfort as (Orihuela) was crying out. The fire was burning him.”
That “citizen” never was identified in the California Highway Patrol report of the incident. In fact, CHP Officer Wendy Hahn said the report listed three good Samaritans, none of whom was identified.
“He’s the one who got him out. That took courage - he stayed with him while I was trying to stop the fire,” Kunz said.
Kunz has stopped to help other times when he’s come across accidents on his way to work, but this was the first time a victim came so close to death.
“Even as a police officer it’s pretty frightening to come on that, especially as the flames are consuming the truck, knowing you could lose a life,” he said.
Kunz said he was unable to check up on Orihuela because of state privacy laws that protect patients. Orihuela was taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills with severe burns and several broken bones, Hahn said.
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