'I did everything I could': Canada Post driver recounts helping save woman from fiery Tesla crash
Rick Harper was driving on Lake Shore Boulevard early Thursday morning on his way to a Canada Post plant in Mississauga when he saw flames ahead of him.
A Tesla had just lost control, crashed into a guardrail, and struck a concrete pillar just after 12:15 a.m. The vehicle, with five occupants inside, then caught fire.
Harper recalled seeing five to six feet of flames above the front hood of the car.
Equipped with a fire extinguisher, Harper decided to pull over and help.
“But as soon as I got out of the truck, they were yelling, you know, that they needed a bar or something to break the window because they were basically pounding the window with their hands, and that wasn’t getting anybody anywhere. So, I grabbed the bar out of the truck I had,” Harper recounted to CTV News Toronto on Friday.
He and another person, who also stopped to help, smashed the back door window.
“(I) took a few swings at the window, and I passed the bar onto the fella beside me, and he took a few swings, and then the window came out. And then (it) was good to see the young lady come out head first out of the window,” Harper recalled.
The woman was able to walk away from the car and sit on the side of the road, where another passerby comforted her. Police said the 25-year-old woman was later taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Harper said he gave the fire extinguisher to other people who tried to put out the flames.
He didn’t know there were other occupants inside besides the driver. Harper said the woman who was rescued didn’t offer any information.
“There was panic in her eyes. Nobody asked her anything. She probably wouldn’t be able to talk,” he said. “We just assumed it was a driver who was trapped, and without fire equipment, we couldn’t do anything for the driver.”
Harper remembered seeing the inside of the Tesla dark and full of smoke and hearing what he described as a “small voice” that was “letting out yells.”
“It was so muffled and so quiet and so weak. That’s what hurts, hearing a voice and then finding out later, a few hours later, people were in that car, and nobody knew. Nobody knew until the fire was out,” he said.
According to police, the four remaining occupants, three men and a woman, died in the crash.
The names of the victims have not been released but police said they were a 26-year-old man, a 29-year-old man, a 32-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman.
The incident was traumatic for Harper, who said it left him upset.
“If we had known there was somebody else, we would have tried to crawl in the window or grab somebody else, but it was dark inside the car. You couldn’t see in there,” he said.
Fearing that there could be an explosion, Harper shortly left the scene.
“I had to get it out of there. I didn’t know if the battery was going to blow up, and, you know, cause a big fire with all the equipment around there,” he said, adding that he also wanted to give emergency vehicles space as they arrived.
“I just continued on after I did everything I could do.”
Fire crews quickly extinguished the flames when they arrived.
It remains unclear what caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle.
“The haunting part is hearing a voice and knowing you can do nothing, waiting for the fire trucks to come and put that fire out and, you know, make people safe,” Harper said.
With files from CP24.com’s Joshua Freeman
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Israel launches strikes on military targets in Iran, escalating Mideast wars
Israel pounded Iran with a series of airstrikes early Saturday, saying it was targeting military targets in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired upon Israel earlier this month. Explosions could be heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, though there was no immediate information on damage or casualties.
'I did everything I could': Canada Post driver recounts helping save woman from fiery Tesla crash
Canada Post driver Rick Harper recounts how he and others helped save a woman from a Tesla that caught fire after crashing into a guardrail on Lake Shore Boulevard.
An abrupt goodbye to a guerilla goldfish aquarium beneath a leaky Brooklyn fire hydrant
A makeshift aquarium that popped up this summer in a puddle beneath a leaky fire hydrant in New York City has been paved over, to the dismay of neighbours who turned the area into a hangout spot and goldfish shrine.
Scotiabank confirms outage for mobile, online banking resolved
Scotiabank has confirmed outages affecting mobile and online banking services, according to a statement published to its X account.
Mother who beat and starved her 5-year-old son to death sentenced to over 50 years in prison
A New Hampshire woman was sentenced Friday to 53 years to life in prison in the death of her 5-year-old son, who was beaten, starved and exposed to drugs before his 19-pound body was found buried in a Massachusetts park in 2021.
Pizza inadvertently infused with THC sickens dozens in Wisconsin
Pizza inadvertently laced with THC has apparently sickened dozens of people in Wisconsin.
'Get away from your inner circle': Liberal MP 'shocked' PM didn't take more time to reflect on calls to resign
Longtime Liberal MP Wayne Long says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should give more weight to the views of his backbenchers in determining his future leading the Party, rather than relying on those in his immediate orbit.
Mom and child jumped from a window to escape a Las Vegas fire that killed 2 children and 2 adults
Two adults and two children were found dead in the charred rubble of a house fire after a mother and another child jumped from a third-floor window to escape flames in a southwest Las Vegas neighborhood, authorities said.
Four arrested in Poland over alleged plot to send explosives via courier to Canada, U.S.
Polish authorities have arrested four individuals they allege planned to send parcels containing camouflaged explosives and dangerous materials to Canada and the United States, according to Poland’s government website.