Bystanders save woman from burning car in North Amityville
People comfort Angiolina Mancuso, 64, who had just been rescued from a burning car on Sunrise Highway near Albany Ave. in North Amityville. (July 3, 2010) Credit: Joe Turner
Cops Saturday credited a quick-thinking team of Good Samaritans in North Amityville with saving the life of a woman trapped in her burning Buick with only a few moments to spare.
Smoke was billowing from the engine of Angiolina Mancuso's 1992 Buick on Sunrise Highway after she crashed into a parked vehicle at about 4:30 p.m.
That's when an impromptu team led by Deris Medlock of Brentwood sprung into heroic action.
Medlock screamed to strangers, "'Help! Help! We've got to get her out of there!' " he said.
Passersby yanked open the Buick's door and struggled to pull out Mancuso, who had serious ankle and knee injuries, police said.
As they worked, the flames grew, Medlock recalled in an interview Saturday night. But Mancuso, 64, said she wanted to reach back for her pocketbook.
"She was nervous about her purse inside. I said, 'Ma, it's all right. Don't worry about that. You've got to be concerned about yourself,'" Medlock said. "I said, 'The car is engulfed in flames. Forget about the pocketbook!' "
Soon after the team freed her and placed her on the grass away from the car, the car became fully engulfed, police said.
The North Massapequa woman was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital, police said. Her condition was not known Saturday night.
Throughout the ordeal, Medlock said, Mancuso displayed remarkable poise despite her injuries.
"I'm not going to lie," Medlock said. "I would have cried like a little baby."
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