Bartlett was trapped inside the vehicle when Karanda responded and gained access inside by smashing the driver’s side window of the auto and removing Bartlett with the help of a nearby Mohawk Construction worker from Canton and a passing motorist from Wolcott.
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A state trooper and two others rescued a male who was trapped inside a burning vehicle Tuesday morning after he lost control and crashed into a bridge column on Route 72.
Trooper Thomas Karanda, working in a nearby highway construction zone, heard the crash and immediately responded to the scene.
The man was rescued from his vehicle by a state trooper, a construction worker who was in the area at the time of the crash, and a passing motorist.
The vehicle, with a veteran CT registration, was driven by 57-year-old David Bartlett, of Plainville, who is a Navy veteran.
Bartlett was taken by ambulance to Hartford Hospital for evaluation, state police said.
The construction worker is from Canton and works for Mohawk Construction, while the passing driver lives in Wolcott.
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“We don’t really know who you are but we really do appreciate you helping David. and he’s alive today because of you”, David Bartlett’s mother Rita told the station. Trooper Karanda said the three of them “bent the door back, grabbed him by his arm and walked him away from the auto before the vehicle became really involved”, according to WFSB.
