Rookie New Bedford police officer honored for saving man from burning car

NEW BEDFORD — Officer Tyler White, less than a year on the job, saved the life of an injured motorist when he pulled the man from a burning car in the city's West End.

The driver's mid-sized vehicle was engulfed in flames and consumed with thick smoke when the 30-year-old officer arrived at the scene of a single-car crash against a tree on Turner Street near Durfee Street between 1 and 1:30 a.m. on May 1.

With his sirens activated and his cruiser lights flashing, White arrived in about two minutes after getting the call from a police dispatcher. He was alone in his cruiser. "I was in the right place at the right time. I was right around the corner," he said.

White blocked the road and told dispatch there were two people trapped in the car before rushing into action, he said. The passenger suffered minor injuries and escaped with the help of a bystander and was later transported to the hospital.

The driver, a man White described as being in his mid-20's, was another story.

The officer reached the car and saw that most of the lower half of the driver's body was trapped under the dashboard. The man was desperately trying to escape the burning car through the rear window on the driver's s

White, who won't celebrate his first anniversary as a police officer until July, tried five or six times to pull the trapped driver out that window, he said. However, the man's body was not budging.

The flames were creeping closer to the driver and he said he knew he had to think fast or the motorist was going to die.

His adrenaline was rushing, but White tried to remain calm as he raced around to the front passenger door to see if he could remove the driver through the door. However, he had to abandon that idea because the flames were too intense, he said.

Then he went back around the car and began pulling the motorist out the driver's side window, he said. He gave two strong yanks before he "ripped" the man out the window and pulled him away from the burning car.

The driver was conscious and alert and White knew he had to keep him awake, he said. "Keep talking to me. Focus on me," the officer told the man, he said.

"He was my Number 1 priority," White told The Standard-Times.

"It happened so fast," he said. White said he has helped people in the past, but this was the first time he saved a life. "Nothing as crazy as that."

The driver was placed in an ambulance and taken to the hospital with "serious lower body injuries," according to Melissa Batchilder, a spokeswoman for the New Bedford Police Department. (The Standard-Times requested a copy of the police report and the rescue, but the NBPD declined to release it.)

A native of Fall River, White has lived in New Bedford the past six years, moving here from Westport. Before joining the force, he worked for a year at the New Bedford Regional Airport, cutting trees to improve runway visibility and operating heavy equipment. He also worked at Horseneck State Beach Reservation doing maintenance.

He said he decided to become a police officer to help people. He first became interested in becoming a policeman as a youngster when he was in the former Fall River Police Station on Bedford Street with his uncle, retired Fall River Officer Donald Breault.

Winding down after his heroic rescue at Turner and Durfee streets, White was congratulated by his fellow officers and the next day he received congratulatory phone calls and emails from Police Chief Joseph Cordeiro and Lt. Emanuel Cabral.

White said he checked on the driver a few days later, but did not hear back about his condition. A week later, the driver's father contacted White and could not thank him enough for saving his son's life. Days after that, the driver contacted White personally and gave his appreciation.

White said he was just doing his job when he rescued the man. However, when the driver's father repeatedly thanked him, the magnitude of the rescue struck him. "When his father reached out to me and thanked me over and over again, then I realized, 'I may have saved someone's life,'" he said.

In a ceremony in the parking lot of NBPD headquarters on Rockdale Avenue, Chief Joseph Cordeiro wearing a mask because of the coronavirus, pinned the officer, who was also wearing a mask, with the department's Life Saving Award.

“In accordance with social distancing guidelines, we honored Officer White with a more intimate ceremony that allowed for us to really personally express our gratitude for his service and honor his courageous effort in saving a life," the chief said in a statement.

"Not everyone receives a Life Saving Award. It’s a high honor bestowed only upon those who go above and beyond the call of duty to risk their life to save another. Officer White stepped up when the moment of truth called for decisive action. The red ribbon he now wears on his chest is a measure of courage that should instill pride in his heart by knowing that today a man lives because of him,” Cordeiro said.

White is a mild-mannered man who shuns the limelight and he didn't think there was anything special about what he did, he said.

He was surprised and pleased when he learned he was selected to receive the department's Life Saving Award. "I was honored they put me in for that award. It shows they care about their officers," he said. "You don't look for rewards in this job. It's not what I'm about.

"I feel good. Happy and relieved," White said. "This will probably be the worst night of his (the driver's) life and I'm happy to have helped."