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Watch: Body cam video shows officer rescuing man, 78, from burning truck
An officer and two Good Samaritans rushed into danger to free a driver trapped inside a burning pickup.
An Easton police officer and two bystanders rescued a driver from a burning pickup truck after a three-vehicle crash on Turnpike Street, according to Easton police.
Officers responded to the crash around 2:15 a.m. Feb. 27 near 537 Turnpike St. on Route 138. The first officer on scene, Patrol Officer Dean Soucie, found two vehicles engulfed in flames and learned that a driver was trapped inside one of them, police said.
With help from two people already at the scene, Soucie broke the driver’s side window of the burning pickup truck, pulled the trapped driver out, and carried him away from the vehicle to safety.
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The driver, a 78-year-old Raynham man, was taken to a local hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Soucie recounted the rescue to WBZ, saying the man — later identified as Francis Leverone — was confused but conscious.
“As I reached inside the vehicle, one of the passersby actually jumped into the cab of the truck, and he helped me free the individual,” Soucie told the outlet.
Leverone was treated for a dislocated hip, according to WBZ.
Investigators say the crash happened when an unoccupied 1993 Mack dump truck that had become disabled was stopped along the roadside in the southbound lane of Turnpike Street.
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A 2013 Ford F-350 traveling southbound struck the rear of the dump truck, trapping the pickup’s driver inside the vehicle, police said.
Moments later, a 2024 Toyota Camry crashed into the back of the F-350 and immediately caught fire, according to authorities.
The Camry’s driver, the sole occupant, was able to exit the vehicle and was uninjured.
Turnpike Street remained closed for several hours while investigators processed the scene.
The crash remains under investigation by the Easton Police Detective and Patrol divisions, police said.
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