Positivity: Caldwell teen risks life to rescue child

From Caldwell, Idaho:

Friday, April 11th, 2008

If one had asked Brooke Garcia on Thursday if she thought of herself as a hero, there might have been a doubtful pause.

But by Friday, the courageous acts of this Caldwell teen spoke for themselves: Brooke has hero written all over her.

It started out as a normal Thursday night. Around 9:30 p.m. Garcia was just getting on Interstate 84 to head over to Boise. As she merged with traffic, a dark-colored sport-utility vehicle zoomed by her in the left-hand lane.

“I was barely up to speed and I remember her flying past me,” Garcia said, thinking the 1996 Chevrolet Blazer must have been traveling around 75 mph.

Garcia got into the left lane behind the SUV, and noticed its brake lights flash suddenly.

“I saw her brake really fast,” Garcia said. “I remember seeing her swerve a little bit to avoid hitting someone in front of her, and that’s when she overcorrected and started to roll.”The teen could barely believe what she saw in front of her: The car rolled no less than four times, sending the vehicle across the median and both westbound lanes of traffic. The SUV landed right-side up and then the already grave situation grew even more chilling: The front of the car burst into flames.

Garcia instantly reacted.

“When I saw the wreck, there’s no way I could have kept driving,” she said. “It happened right in front of my eyes. I don’t remember thinking should I stop or not stop, I just stopped. I just pulled over and got out and ran over there.”

She sprinted across the freeway and immediately began looking for victims. Peering in the front seat, Garcia couldn’t see anyone. Smoke was already starting to fill the passenger compartment of the car. Then Garcia checked the back seat.

“I saw this little boy,” she said. “I saw the smoke and thought I had to get this boy out.”

Teen breaks window

Garcia tried to unlock the doors, but the power locks had failed. She tried jerking the rear-seat door open, but it wouldn’t budge. With smoke building inside, Garcia knew she had to rescue the young boy.

Looking around, Garcia initially only saw one other person who had stopped to help.

“I knew I had to jump in; I had to do something to help him. I was the first one there. The other lady was on the phone with dispatch, and I just knew it was me that was going to do it.”

Garcia used her elbow to break the back seat window, then crawled part way through and started to unbuckle the car seat.

“I remember holding my breath trying not to breathe in that smoke,” she said.

In a few seconds, Garcia emerged from the car holding the child.

“I don’t even remember looking at him in the face except for when I saw him in the back seat,” Garcia said. “Once I got him out of the seat and out of the car, that’s when he started crying.” …..

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