NEW ORLEANS — A miraculous rescue on the Crescent City Connection this summer, it just happened two emergency workers who work on different sides of the Mississippi River were travelling across the bridge.
It was Aug. 26 around 4:30 in the afternoon, traffic was moving on the Crescent City Connection. Jefferson Parish Sheriff, Deputy Anton Huguley was on the way to a detail.
Deputy Huguley said, “I was traveling, I saw a white Crown Vic on three wheels in a rotor. So sparks was flying everywhere.”
He knew the driver was a danger to himself and others, saying, “I said, bro, it's not safe, you know. So as I start putting the level four barricades up behind our vehicles. I noticed his rotors start smoking. So I said bro you got to get out the car. And he refused. I said no serious, you have to get out.”
In law enforcement since 2016, he knew something was very wrong, “You know the car could have lost control anything by the spark spinner like motor fuel the gas line oil could have you know, blew up anything.”
It’s then his worst thoughts started to materialize, "That's when the rotor caught fire.” Huguley knew he only had minutes to get a handicapped man and his dog out of an impending fireball.
“I pulled him out the car to the back of my unit,” he said.
Also traveling on the Crescent City Connection that day, was off duty, New Orleans Firefighter Chase Bruner.
Bruner said, “When I was coming down, they had a JP officer that was at the bottom with his lights on… he was holding this guy and… I was wondering what was going on. So when I got closer to the bottom, I pulled over and I jumped out because I've seen some smoke coming from the car.”
He went on to say, “I said, Hey, man, what's going on? You need some help? He said yeah, please… the guy didn't have no legs. So I grabbed the under the, you know, by the thighs of his legs, and we pulled him back as far as we could.”
The smoke, Deputy Huguley noticed before, was now flames. Bruner said, “ As soon as we did that the car burst in flames.”
Bruner went on to say, “I called the fire station on this side the river and said, Hey, can y'all come I got a fully involved car. I called the fire station on the West Bank, got them to come. And then I called somebody from EMS and got them to send us an EMS unit.”
WWL Louisiana reporter, Eleanor Tabone asked Bruner, “How quickly was it from when you arrived at the scene Chase or drove past to the car bursting into flames?" He responded with, “I can say it was probably maybe 30-40 seconds. And we had a fully involved working fire.”
Eleanor then asked Deputy Huguley, “What was that like to have someone pull someone out of a car and then seconds later it's on flames?”
Deputy Huguley said, “Looking back now that you asked it that it could have save other lives. So like if he would’ve went home when the metal settled. It could have you know, caught the house on fire apartment complex on fire. And I feel good afterwards, you know, because I'm like, you know, at least he's safe. His dog is safe.”
It’s a coincidence, these two emergency workers were traveling on the Crescent City Connection that summer day. A coincidence that turned into a miraculous rescue – a rescue undertaken by two men who risk their lives daily to save others. However, neither call themselves a hero.
Deputy Huguley said, “No. I just do my job. While Bruner said, “I wouldn't really call myself a hero I mean it's all part of job, I love what I do.”
When you think of friendship, a bond between a firefighter and sheriff’s deputy really isn’t an odd one, the Deputy Huguley and Bruner have been friends for five years.
These two friends who just happened to be travelling on the Crescent City Connection saved a man and his dog on Aug. 26th around 4:30 in the afternoon.
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