News Flash

An off-duty Roswell firefighter was in the right place at the right time to take action June 30 to rescue two men inside a cargo truck that had burst into flames after being hit from behind by a pickup truck.

Firefighter Carlos Garcia (pictured), who has been a member of the Roswell Fire Department for a year and a half, was at his father’s south Roswell auto-body shop near the intersection of South Main Street and the U.S. 285 Relief Route when the crash occurred around 5:20 p.m. Garcia heard the loud noise of the crash, went outside and ran to the burning Isuzu cargo vehicle, which was a furniture delivery truck of a local business. The truck had flipped onto its passenger side and two men, employees of the business, were in the cab, the 32-year-old driver and the 26-year-old passenger. Only one was conscious and he was pinned underneath the other man who was unconscious.

Kicking and pulling on the truck’s windshield, Garcia was able to get it loose and create enough space to pull out the unconscious man, which he did with the help of another man who had been passing by and had come up to assist. By the time they pulled the injured man to safety, the other man from inside the truck had exited from the vehicle. Garcia rendered what medical attention he could to the men while awaiting the arrival of other emergency medical personnel. Shortly after the unconscious man was pulled from the truck, he regained consciousness.

While Garcia was attending to the injured men, who would soon after be transported to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, another member of the Roswell Fire Department, EMS Division Chief Eric Mann, came upon the scene while driving by. Mann stopped and checked on the driver of the pickup that had struck the larger delivery truck. The driver of the Nissan Titan pickup was the lone occupant of the pickup and was deceased, Mann confirmed. The deceased driver was identified as Sean Michael Murphy, 47, of Roswell.

Initial findings of the Roswell Police Department investigation indicated the pickup was southbound on Main Street traveling at a high rate of speed when it struck the rear of the delivery truck, which was also southbound and had been stopped on Main Street at a red light at the Relief Route intersection. It is believed the light had just turned green and the delivery truck had just begun to drive forward when it was struck from behind, causing it to flip to its side and ignite into fire.