Fire Rescue News - Mullica Township man credits fellow Samaritan with saving woman's life after Route 30 crash.
MULLICA TOWNSHIP — Elliot Lebron was just driving away from his house at about 6 a.m. Saturday for a weekend camping trip when he saw a white car against a tree off Route 30, its engine compartment smoking.
“I said to my wife, ‘It looks like someone had an accident,’” he said Tuesday afternoon at his West Adams Circle home.
He pulled over a few dozen yards east down the highway, then ran back to.....Continue Reading
Call Recording
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the car, where another man who also had pulled over was already trying to smash the driver’s side front window to free a woman inside.
Together, Lebron and Michael Mazkowski, of Hamilton Township, most likely saved her life, police said.
“We just reacted,” Lebron said. “We just started doing what we had to do.”
On Monday, Lindsey Nasile, 24, of Burlington Township, was listed in good condition, having suffered leg, arm and hip injuries, but on Tuesday she requested hospital staff not release any more information about her condition.
Police said that Mazkowski and Lebron got the woman out and away from her car just before it was completely consumed by flames just after 6 a.m. that morning. Investigating Officer Ryan Hutton said Nasile told officers she fell asleep, and he suspected no drugs or alcohol were involved.
Nasile’s car swerved to the right off the eastbound lanes, snapped a utility pole, tore off the top of the metal mile marker 35 sign, and was finally stopped by a tree just a few feet from the road.
On Tuesday, the pole was repaired, but the mile marker remained on the shoulder with debris from Nasile’s car. A rearview mirror, melted metal, a tire still attached to part of its axle and the plastic lettering from her Pontiac Grand Prix were all around the charred tree.
Lebron said Nasile’s seatbelt easily saved her life, as did Mazkowski, who he said was the real hero.
“Thank God he was there,” he said. “That guy deserves a medal.”
Lebron said that the driver door was jammed shut, and Mazkowski broke the window to get the woman out. He unhooked her seatbelt, and together they pulled Nasile out.
She was barely responsive, he said, and they had to drag her away. Eventually the Elwood Fire Company came to extinguish the fire, but Hutton said neither he nor firefighters would have arrived in time to get Nasile safely out.
Lebron, 67, said he did not really talk to Mazkowski, and had no way to contact him. The Mays Landing man’s phone number is not publicly listed, and his name did not appear in a search for local tax records.
“If I was her, I would wish a guy like that would always be around to help,” Lebron said about Mazkowski.
Lebron said the woman thanked them both before she was taken to the hospital.
“I said, ‘Any time,’ but I realized I said the wrong thing,’” Lebron said with a laugh. “It was really like, ‘Never again.’ What I meant to say was, ‘Don’t worry about it.’”
Contact Lee Procida: 609-457-8707 LProcida@pressofac.com
