On Feb. 11, 2017, 64-year-old machinist Troy Martin encountered a vehicle that, in an accident in Santa Paula, Calif., went off the highway into a ditch, coming to rest on its passenger side on uneven ground with driver 19-year-old Ricardo Rodriguez trapped inside and fire under the car’s hood and at the floorboards. Martin retrieved a machete from his car. Moving to a rocky slope at the car’s roof, he repeatedly struck the sunroof panel of the car until he created an opening, falling into the ditch once. With the dashboard on fire, Martin reached his arms through the opening and grasped Rodriguez’s upper body and attempted to pull him from the car, but lost his grip on Rodriguez and fell into the ditch again. He returned to the opening, and with difficulty, dragged Rodriguez from the car, which was shortly engulfed by fire. Rodriguez suffered a back injury and minor burns to a hand and his thighs. Martin recovered from minor burns to his hand, singeing to his head, and bruises and cuts to his head and legs.
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