RIPON, Calif. — A Ripon police officer is being hailed as a hero after saving a passenger from a burning Tesla.
According to the Ripon Police Department, a concerned citizen at the Love’s truck stop told Officer De La Sancha about a Tesla driving erratically and parking in handicap stalls.
As the officer was speaking to the passenger, the owner got in the car and drove off. Dispatch later told police the Tesla crashed at the intersection of Jacktone Road and Santos Avenue.
Police say the driver left the accident scene, leaving their passenger in the burning vehicle.
Officer Veltkamp pulled the passenger out of the vehicle before it became fully engulfed in flames, and suffered second-degree burns to his hands during the rescue.
The passenger is in critical condition, and the driver was found and arrested for felony hit-and-run.
“Officer Veltkamp's heroic action is giving the passenger a fighting chance,” wrote Ripon police.
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