Seth T. Stein

Seth T. Stein saved Jamia N. and Jatae K. Queen and helped to save Aja D. Queen from burning, New Kent, Virginia, April 30, 2004. Queen, 25, remained in the driver’s seat of her car after an accident in which the vehicle left the highway, entered a wooded median, and caught fire in its engine area. Her daughter Jamia, 5, was in the back seat of the car, and her son Jatae, 6, was in the front seat. Stein, 24, medical supplies salesman, who had been driving behind Queen, witnessed the accident and stopped at the scene. He approached the burning car and, despite growing flames, opened the rear door on the driver’s side, leaned into the car, and pulled Jamia from the vehicle after first releasing her safety belt. Returning, Stein fully entered the back-seat area and freed Jatae, whose leg was caught in the wreckage. He pulled Jatae into the back seat, then out of the car. Stein took both children back to the highway, then returned to the car, from which another motorist had removed Queen. The two men took Queen to safety. Flames by then had spread throughout the inside of the vehicle and issued high above it. Queen was hospitalized for treatment of her injuries, but she was not burned. She recovered.