Good Samaritans save man from burning car, State Police say

Good Samaritans pulled an unconscious man from a burning car moments before it was destroyed by fire after a single-car accident along the Robert Moses Causeway on Thursday morning, State Police said.

The crash occurred along the southbound parkway, south of Sunrise Highway, at 7:37 a.m.

Police said if not for the actions of the rescuers — one of them a woman on her way to work as an occupational therapist at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip — the victim would have died.

“How many people would see an accident and just drive by?” State Police spokesman Trooper Frank Bandiero said. “I would hope she’s around if anything ever happened to me . . . That’s really a Good Samaritan. That’s not a passer-by.”

Police identified the victim as William Strein, 53, of Greenlawn. His condition was not known.

Police said an investigation found Strein’s 2002 Lincoln hit a guardrail along the parkway, then struck a tree.

“He was unconscious,” Bandiero said. “Passersby pulled him from the car, which then became engulfed. These people saved his life.”

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”