Superior native rescues victim of fiery crash in Kansas

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Timothy McCarthy’s hands were burned — his right one severely — in efforts to save a driver whose car crashed near McCarthy’s Overland Park home. Keith Myers/Kansas City Star, Mo./MCT

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• Overland Park man hurt while pulling driver from burning car wreck

A Superior native was hailed a hero in Overland Park, Kan., this week after he pulled a driver from a fiery crash.

Timothy McCarthy, 22, ran toward the burning car that crashed around 1 a.m. Tuesday morning, and pulled the driver from the fiery wreckage, according to the Kansas City Star.

The incident occurred near his apartment, his aunt, Shelby Hobson, said Thursday morning. She said her nephew sustained second and third degree burns on his hand when he pulled the victim from the car.

The victim was on fire when the 2006 graduate of Superior High School pulled him from the vehicle; he snuffed flames around the driver’s head and shoulders, the Kansas City Star reported.

According to the newspaper McCarthy was home talking to a cousin when he heard squealing tires, a bang and explosion. He could see the fiery wreck from his house and called 911 as he ran toward the burning car.

“I couldn’t just stand there and watch somebody burn to death,” McCarthy told the Kansas City Star.

Hobson said two people died in the crash, but her nephew was able to save one of victims of the crash. Police told McCarthy the vehicle was burning so fiercely, he couldn’t have saved the other victims of the crash.

McClatchy-Tribune Information Services and the Kansas City Star in Missouri contributed to this report.

Tags: public safety, news, superior, hero, crash