From left: NBC News’ Tom Costello and Costello at the scene of a crash in Maryland this week.
NEED TO KNOW
- NBC News correspondent Tom Costello helped rescue a teen from a burning car on Monday, May 11, in Maryland
- Costello witnessed the wreck, which saw the vehicle “explode into a hundred pieces” before catching fire, he said
- With the help of an orthopedic surgeon and nurse, Costello carried the driver to safety
Tom Costello is recalling a harrowing incident earlier this week when he sprang into action to rescue a driver who had been in a brutal car crash in Maryland.
The NBC News correspondent appeared on the network to detail his eventful drive home from work on Monday, May 11, during which he helped pull the driver from the burning vehicle safely.
Costello described the moments between the wreck and the explosion.
“It was horrific,” he said. “What happened was, this car passed me last night as I’m leaving work at 100 mph — that’s my guesstimate. And that car then made a corner and slammed into a concrete jersey barrier on the beltway.”
The crash Tom Costello witnessed.
“And when he did, the car exploded into a hundred pieces — not fire, immediately, but pieces everywhere,” he said. “And I thought: If that person survived, you know, they need help fast.”
A photo of the crash, shared by the Montgomery County Maryland Fire & Rescue Service, shows the silver car’s front completely disfigured and disintegrated, with the windshield and several windows blown out.
Costello reached for his phone to dial 911 and said, “Get your trucks rolling right now,” he said on NBC, and he stressed that the person in the wreck needed help as soon as possible.
“I went and I opened up the car door, and I thought he would be dead,” Costello said. “Honestly, I thought nobody could survive this.”
Costello found an apparent teenager in the driver’s seat who looked to be in shock from the crash, he said. The young man could hear, though he couldn’t feel much of his fingers or toes, and he told Costello that “everything hurts.”
That’s when Costello noticed flames flitting beneath them. Video footage of the crash’s aftermath obtained by NBC shows the vehicle significantly engulfed in orange flames emitting billows of black smoke.
Tom Costello at the scene of the car crash.
Costello got worried about moving the driver from the vehicle because of potential injuries, as pedestrians began approaching. But as the fire grew, it became impossible to ignore.
Costello waved down cars who were passing by and, “thankfully,” one who stopped was an orthopedic surgeon, he said. The surgeon helped support the driver’s neck while Costello grabbed his torso and a woman — whom Costello later discovered was a nurse — held his legs.
The three carried the young man down the off ramp to safety. Not long after, the vehicle “really caught fire and exploded,” Costello said.
The whole thing was “sobering,” he said, and he struggled to sleep that night.
“I mean, thank God for that orthopedic surgeon, and the nurse, she was amazing,” he said. “I think the lesson here is: Watch your kids. I mean, this was [driver], probably hadn’t been driving long. … He should be dead. I can’t believe he’s alive, to be honest with you.”
