HANCOCK COUNTY, Indiana — Two central Indiana officers are being hailed as heroes for pulling a 19-year-old Greenfield man from a car mere moments before it burst into flames.
Hancock County deputies were sent to the area of 8500 East US 40, where a car left the roadway and crashed in the grass median early Saturday morning.
Dispatchers told deputies the car that crashed was on fire and people were trapped inside.
When Deputy Barb Miers got to the scene, the car's engine compartment was on fire. She used her fire extinguisher, but was unable to put out the fire and the driver’s side door was stuck shut, the sheriff's office said.
Two Greenfield officers, Sgt. Justin Jackson and Patrolman Blake Crull, were next to arrive. Together, the three officers were able to pry open the driver’s door and pull out the driver, identified as 19-year-old Jonathan Moncrief.
"They worked and worked and worked and pulled and pulled and pulled on the door enough to where they finally were able to get it open and bent away enough that they could pull the guy out through the door," said Greenfield Police Deputy Chief Chuck McMichael. "Absolutely 'He-Man' strength. It's amazing how your body responds to crisis like that."
They moved Moncrief, who was the only person in the car, to safety. McMichael said just moments after the driver was pulled from the burning vehicle, it became fully engulfed in flames.
"Almost immediately after they got the driver out, within probably 30 seconds to a minute, the entire engine compartment was on fire," said McMichael.
The sheriff's office applauded all three officers for their quick actions, saying that if it weren't for them, "Moncrief would have perished in the vehicle fire."
Moncrief was not wearing a seatbelt when the car crashed, so medics suspected he may have had head and internal trauma. He was taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital for treatment and is in stable condition.
Authorities said this crash stands as a stark reminder for everyone on the roads to drive safely and always wear a seatbelt.
When Miers followed up with Moncrief at the hospital, he was able to speak but didn't remember much.
A witness told dispatchers that Moncrief was driving erratically just before the crash. Authorities are investigating and, as part of the routine investigation, Moncrief submitted to a blood draw. Investigators said it has not been confirmed if drugs or alcohol were a factor in the crash.
2 rescues, 2 years, same road
This rescue was not a first for Officer Crull. He has done this before. Two drivers in two years, both rescued from fire by the same patrolman.
Again in the middle of the night, again along US 40, Crull again performed hero's work, saving a woman in 2020.
On Sept. 9, 2020, he responded to a crash in the 4200 block of East US 40 and pulled an injured woman, Heather Fischer, through a side window moments before the engine compartment began exploding.
"You ask him and he'll tell you it's dumb luck that you know he just happened to be where he needed to be at the time," McMichael said.
The Greenfield City Council honored Crull with the Life Saving Award and the Award for Valor, the first time the latter award was given out by the city.
"He's a very humble guy, he won't take the credit," McMichael said. "He did receive a lifesaving award from the first accident that he still to this day will tell you he didn't deserve. But he absolutely does."
Fischer couldn't agree more.
“He is amazing," she said at the ceremony honoring Crull. "He is incredible. How often does this happen in life? You get to meet someone that actually saved your life.”
The driver of the car that struck Fischer's vehicle, Arturo Casimiro, ended up pleading guilty to Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated: Prior Conviction within 7 Years and was sentenced to 180 days of probation after receiving credit for time served in the Hancock County Jail.