Good Samaritan uses baseball bat to rescue woman from burning car

READING, Mass. -- A Massachusetts man who rescued an unconscious woman from a burning vehicle is being hailed as a hero, CBS Boston reports. 

The woman, Laura McCaffrey, was driving with her niece in Reading on Memorial Day when police say she apparently had a seizure and lost consciousness.

McCaffrey's car knocked down a utility pole, crashed into another, and then the vehicle erupted in flames. 

Samantha Fuschetti was attending a cookout nearby when the crash took place. 

"We were just settling in, getting ready to cook, and we heard a loud bang," Fuschetti said. "It sounded like a shot. One of my friends, Brandon, ran to she scene."

When Brandon Finnen reached the crash site, he discovered that the car was already on fire. The driver was unresponsive in the driver's seat. 

"Her niece came around and tried to open the door," Finnen said. "I told the niece to back up and I tried to start breaking the window with my fist." 

But then his friend handed him a baseball bat, which he used to smash through the car window.

"I unlocked and opened the door," he said. "The flames got bigger at first and I backed up. Then I thought about how I would feel if I couldn't get her out. So I just reached in, unbuckled the seat belt, and used all my might to pull her out as strong as I could."

Witnesses say the driver's side was completely engulfed in flames when Finnen pulled the woman out of the vehicle. 

Although Finnen doesn't think he's a hero, his friends say he is. P. J. Fuschetti believes Finnen saved the woman's life.

"I definitely think she would have passed away, you know. Something bad could have happened. Yeah, he saved her life, definitely," Fuschetti said.

The crash that toppled a utility pole left 1,300 customers without power for several hours. Authorities say power has since been completely restored in the area. 

McCaffrey and her niece were transported to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.