Passer-by pulls survivor from burning car

BY MELISSA CIFELLI Staff Writer

BY MELISSA CIFELLI
Staff Writer

SOUTH BRUNSWICK — You might call her a little life saver.

A Sayreville man was saved from his burning vehicle last week by a woman nearly half his size.

The man, Rajendra Naidoo, 33, became trapped in his vehicle after he lost control on Deans Rhode Hall Road and crashed into a chain link fence, rolling several times into the Washington Cemetery on April 13.

According to South Brunswick Detective James Ryan, passing motorist Alissa Orsini, 23, of Belle Mead, spotted the crashed vehicle in the cemetery. Orsini and her cousin, Amy Matthews, stopped, then ran to Naidoo’s vehicle and saw flames coming from beneath the car.

Orsini told Naidoo to get out of the car but realized his door was jammed and would not open, Ryan said.

At that point, Orsini, who is 5-foot-8 and 125 pounds, reached through the broken driver’s-side window and pulled Naidoo, who is over 6 feet tall and 200 pounds, out of his vehicle, Ryan said.

“It’s quite amazing,” Ryan said of Orsini’s actions, especially under such adverse conditions of fire and broken glass.

According to Orsini, she and her cousin did not realize anyone was in the car until they stopped after driving through smoke on the road. Orsini said she wasn’t thinking of any danger, just that the man needed to get out of that car.

And it wasn’t until the next day, according to Orsini, that she began to realize the seriousness of the night’s events.

“I’m just glad that we were able to stop and help him,” Orsini said.

By the time the first officers arrived at the scene, the front of Naidoo’s vehicle was completely engulfed in flames.

Naidoo was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital by the Monmouth Junction First Aid Squad where he remains in serious condition in the intensive care unit.

The cause of the car accident remains under investigation, Ryan said.

The fire was eventually put out by the Monmouth Junction Fire Department.