A Good Man Down; Hero Police officer killed early today in crash on 405 Freeway

Officer Chad Swans on 35 years old, a HERO of 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting, just killed in crash on 405 Freeway

Deadly 405 Freeway crash in Carson under investigation

CARSON, Calif. – A Manhattan Beach Police Department motorcycle officer was killed Wednesday in a crash on the 405 Freeway in Carson.

The crash was reported about 5:15 a.m. at Del Amo Boulevard, according to the California Highway Patrol.

A preliminary investigation revealed a speeding vehicle made an unsafe lane change and collided with another vehicle. That second vehicle then collided into the motorcycle officer, identified as 35-year-old Officer Chad Swanson, who was ejected from his motor, authorities said.

Swanson, a motor officer with the Manhattan Beach Police Department for the last 13 years, was taken to the hospital where he died from his injuries.

During a press conference, Lieutenant Kelly Benjamin said Swanson “loved riding his motor, but most importantly Chad loved his wife and three boys.”

“He had an infectious smile and was positive. He was a joy to work with, she added.

She noted that Swanson was in the crowd at the 2017 Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas when a gunman opened fire on the crowd from a nearby hotel. Benjamin said Swanson helped get people and shooting victims out of the area.

“The entire Manhattan Beach community is mourning the loss of an officer who dedicated his career to ensuring the safety and well-being of our residents,” Manhattan Beach Mayor Richard Montgomery said in a statement.

“His fearless contributions to our community and beyond were marked by bravery, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to duty,” Montgomery said.

Swanson is survived by his wife, three boys, mother, and father.

One other person involved in the crash was hospitalized with minor injuries.

At this time all traffic is being diverted off at Avalon. Authorities said the freeway will be closed until at least noon as the investigation continues. source

Police officer killed in crash on 405 Freeway

A Manhattan Beach Police Department motorcycle officer was killed today in a multi-vehicle crash on the northbound 405 Freeway in the Carson area.

The crash was reported at about 5:15 a.m. at Del Amo Boulevard, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Information was not immediately available on the identity of the officer, who died at a hospital, the CHP reported.

All northbound lanes were closed in the area while an investigation was conducted into the circumstances of the crash, and traffic was backed up for miles.

According to the CHP’s preliminary investigation:

• The crash that fatally injured the officer, who was believed to have been on duty, involved three other vehicles.

• One of those vehicles, which may have been speeding, made a lane change, hitting another vehicle that went out of control.

• The officer was knocked off the motorcycle by one of the vehicles.

• Another person was transported from the scene for treatment of minor injuries.

The other motorists remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators, the CHP reported. source

Hero Sam Heiler; Saves 2 Toddlers!

Arizona man heroically saves two toddlers from burning car moments before it’s engulfed in flames

Wife of hero who rescued toddlers from burning car says he had help of ‘divine intervention’

A Yuma man rescued two-year-old and three-year-old girls from a burning car on the side of the road just moments before the car burst into flames on a remote highway on Arizona’s Navajo reservation Thursday night.

The Good Samaritan, Sam Heiler, 30, said he was driving to a Memorial Weekend getaway Thursday evening with his wife, Melissa, on a remote highway in Navajo County, Arizona, when the engine of a car ahead of theirs caught fire. He pulled over when the flames rose.

Heiler said the parents of the two girls got out of the front seats of the car and shut their doors, and for an unknown reason all of the doors instantly locked, making them unable to open the doors to get the girls in the backseat.

“The parents were freaking out, screaming and punching the windows with their bare hands, both the back windows in front of the babies,” Heiler told Fox News Digital, but the parents were unsuccessful in breaking in the windows.

Sam Heiler of Yuma, Arizona, rescued two toddler-aged girls from a burning car Thursday. (Courtesy of Rebecca Holdenried)

“They had about 20 more seconds until the fire spread from the engine block to the cab. The girls were screaming, the parents were screaming, my wife was screaming—it was bad. When the fire hit the fuel tank it made a legitimate fireball explosion.”

A Yuma man rescued two-year-old and three-year-old girls from a burning car on the side of the road just moments before the car burst into flames on a highway on Arizona’s Navajo reservation Thursday night. (Courtesy of Sam Heiler)

“Dad followed suit, but from the panic, attempted to throw rocks at the back windows where the girls would have been covered with glass and a heavy rock had it broken through. All the while, the flames had now spread to completely covering the front hood of the car, and the two- and three-year old are screaming,” she said.

Sam threw a rock through a front window, breaking the glass to open the doors from the inside.

“Once the doors were open, Sam helped unbuckle them from their seatbelts, help Mom and Dad remove them from the car, and bring them up to where we pulled over about 30 yards up the road,” she added.

Sam Heiler said the area had no cell phone service, but he eventually flagged another driver down using a glow stick he keeps in his car, and asked them to call 911 when they regained cell service – about 25 miles further up the road.

Heiler says that for hours afterwards, the forest in Navajo County had spot fires running through it from the car fire they had to put out. (Arizona Department of Public Safety via AP)

 

Tribal police and firefighters eventually arrived at the scene. Heiler says that for hours afterwards, the forest in Navajo County had spot fires running through it from the car fire they had to put out.

Melissa Heiler said that her husband’s initial instinct was to keep driving after seeing the car pull over.

“But, in that same instant, something came over him, and he felt like he had to stop and see if he could help.”

“Divine intervention, no doubt in our minds,” she said. source

Warrren Consolidated Schools released video showing the tense moments where 7th-grade hero Dillon Reeves took the wheel of his school bus after the driver fell unconscious on Wednesday.

Video shows the driver nod off about 50 seconds in, Dillon enters the frame shortly after and gabs the steering wheel, while applying the brake – guiding the bus to a safe stop on Masonic Boulevard near Bunert Road. Superintendent Robert Livernois said at that point the bus was beginning to veer into what would have been oncoming traffic.

“Someone call 911. Now,” he shouted calmly to others aboard the bus as students begin to yell and panic in the background. The bus, which holds about 66 passengers, was full at the time.

Livernois said the driver had already alerted the transportation base that she was not feeling well and was going to pull over, which he believes helped in the district’s preparedness. He said Dillon was five rows behind the driver and seconds later, noticed the driver had passed out.

“In my 35-plus years of education, this was an extraordinary act of courage and maturity on his part,” Livernois said. “He ran to the front of the bus, grabbed the steering wheel and brought the bus to a stop in the middle of the road.

“And he had the wherewithal to push the brake down slowly – likely in anticipation that the bus was full of passengers.”

Livernois said that two Good Samaritans assisted during the emergency. Once the bus stopped, one passerby who was walking came aboard and assisted Dillon with the driver. A second person, a woman driving behind the bus, stopped and helped the students off the bus using the rear door.

Livernois said the driver is still hospitalized and that they are waiting to receive drug test results.

At a press conference Thursday, Dillon did not speak but his parents addressed the media and expressed how proud they were of their son.

“I asked him how did you know what to do,” his mom said. “He said that he watches her drive everyday.” source