State police bodycam video shows heroic rescue of seniors trapped in burning RV
Newly released police body camera video shows the heroic rescue of two seniors trapped inside their burning motorhome last week.
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Newly released police body camera video shows the heroic rescue of two seniors trapped inside their burning motorhome last week.
The close call unfolded Thursday on I-87 southbound in the Town of Catskill.
Two state police troopers, Gregory Langtry and Scott Westfall, were among the first rescuers on the scene. The police video shows Langtry try to first break the RV’s windshield with his baton and then the glass window of the motorhome door. The couple, both in their 80s, were pulled from the RV coughing as smoke billowed out.
An on-duty Amtrak detective, Scott DiBisceglio, was passing by and also stopped to help the husband and wife, Raymond Hanas and Patricia Grabley, both from Lake George.
Police say a mechanical failure caused the motorhome to catch fire and that the couple pulled over before the vehicle became disabled but stopped too close to the guardrail for the door to open.
“We are just happy that they’re OK and everyone got out safe,” says Westfall. “If it was a couple minutes longer, I don’t know if they would’ve been able to get out.”
Police say the fire could be seen for over a mile with 20-foot flames.
Rescuers were also able to save the couple’s two cats.
