Good Samaritan pulls woman from burning car

ATLANTA — A Paulding woman tells Channel 2 Action News she could have burned alive after her car crashed, and she owes her life to a Good Samaritan.

Janet Uriostegui, of Hiram, fought back tears as she visited her car in a wrecker yard and recounted the story to Channel 2's Diana Davis.

"There was a point where I didn't think I was going to get out of the car, "she said.

The 23-year-old's car flipped on its side Tuesday morning on a rain-slicked Timber Ridge Drive in Douglasville. Uriostegui was trapped and hanging by her seat belt as the car started to burn.

That's when Scott Cosper, an investigator for the for Douglas County District Attorney's Office, saw the car and ran to help.

"I see the fear on her face. She's screaming for us to help her. My main goal was to get his young lady out. I was not going to sit there and watch her burn up," he said.
 
Still in tears, Uriostegui told Davis her panic was overwhelming.

"I remember kicking the glass, and it wouldn't break. I thought at one point, 'This is where everyone else is going to find me'"she said.

Cosper tried to break the windshield with a street sign, but it didn't budge.

Finally, someone handed him a crowbar. It broke through, making a hole big enough to grab Uriostegui.

"I remember him reaching his hands, and I grabbed his arms, and that's when he had pulled me out," she said.
 
Cosper told Davis he normally doesn't take that road to work. 

"I was in the right place at the right time, and only God knows why he put me there. It's a good thing, it really is," he said.

Uriostegui told Davis she will always be grateful.

"And he's my hero and I thank him and his family and blessings for him, "she said.

Cosper says he's no hero, and says simply, "It's a good thing everybody is OK and everybody slept in their beds last night. "

Davis said an auto-glass breaker that can smash windows in an emergency is readily available on the Internet or most retail stores.

WSBTV