I saw the big explosion and fire.
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A local mattress store manager is being hailed a hero after he came to the quick aid of a man trapped in a vehicle, upside-down, and burning. “I just wasn’t going to witness that guy getting roasted”.
He grabbed his cellphone and began to record the incident, but then he saw an arm and a head – the driver was still inside the black Honda Prelude.
Santiago Portillo, the manager of a Mattress Showroom store on Indiana Avenue in Riverside, was sitting in his office when a auto crashed, rolled and caught fire just outside the store. “There was fire going through the vents”, Portillo said.
Despite the hot flames licking up around him he pulls the stranger to safety, an act that has caused people to hail Mr Portillo a hero.
Mid-race, the auto swerved to avoid a semi-truck, then smashed through a concrete street light before flipping and crashing into a Palm Tree.
The driver suffered a cut to his face, but is expected to be OK.
Regardless of social media criticism, the victim’s family thanked Portillo for saving his life.
“He’s alive, we’re happy he’s alive”.
‘Before I save this man’s life let me get a good angle of it lol, ‘ Spodermen wrote.
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“I’d do all over again for my daughters”, he says. Riverside police were looking for a second driver involved in the street race, who they said sped away from the crash scene.
