EDITORIAL
We as a society tend to focus on the bad news.
We look at the theft charges filed against a former treasurer of the Upper Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization and shake our heads.
We fret about the more than three dozen South Brunswick residents whose cars were vandalized in August.
And we worry about Monday’s armed robbery in Royal Oaks the second at the apartment complex this summer.
That’s why it’s important to hear of the good Samaritan in this case, the passing motorists who pulled 18-year-old Larisa Luca from her car just minutes before it burst into flames last week and then waited with her until help arrived.
According to police, Ms. Luca was approaching the intersection of Henderson Road and Route 1 on Aug. 28 when her Neon collided with a Ford Bronco. The impact sent Ms. Luca and her car into the barrier on Route 1, causing it to catch fire. Ms. Luca remained trapped in the car for several minutes, screaming for help as traffic crept slowly past.
That’s where the good Samaritans come in.
Gary Kaczka, 40, of Somerset, his son, Ryan, 13, and his son’s friend, Joseph Giorgianni, 13, saw that Ms. Luca was trapped in the car and sprung into action. The trio stopped and did something far too few of us would even consider. They got out of their car and helped.
Mr. Kaczka ran to the car while Ryan and Joseph directed traffic. Mr. Kaczka, with a borrowed pen knife, cut Ms. Luca’s seatbelt and grabbed her from the car.
After making sure she was OK, the trio left, leaving Ms. Luca unsure of what had happened and who had saved her.
"I wish I knew what his name was," she said shortly after.
While this was going on, other drivers passed, some yelling at the kids for blocking traffic an unfortunate commentary on our narrow preoccupations.
Mr. Kaczka, the two teens and Monique Young, a second motorist who stopped and waited with Ms. Luca for the ambulance, deserve our gratitude and respect. The 18-year-old in the car could have been any of us and it is good to know that someone out there cared enough to help. He put himself in a potentially dangerous situation to save the life of someone he didn’t know, a stranger, and left without waiting for the praise normally given a lifesaver.
What the four strangers did should be an inspiration to all of us. We could use a few more of him.

