Samaritans save township officer from fiery crash

Newly married policeman in good condition

By Matt Chiappardi, Staff Writer
   EAST WINDSOR — If it had taken a few seconds longer, township police Officer Paul Wille would likely be dead.
   But the newly married Hamilton resident and three-year veteran of the East Windsor police force was recovering in good condition Wednesday, thanks to six heroic people who acted quickly enough to pull Officer Wille out of his wrecked patrol car before it turned into a lethal inferno.
   At 7:20 p.m. Tuesday Officer Wille, 27, responded to a call of an officer needing assistance with a person resisting arrest on Cedarville Road, police said. While driving to the scene with his lights and sirens on, Officer Wille crossed from the southbound to the northbound lanes of Old York Road for an unknown reason and crashed, according to police.
   At that moment, Terrance Nish, 26, of South Brunswick, was enjoying dinner with his girlfriend, Shannon Scott, 25, at her parents’ house across the street from where Officer Wille crashed his patrol car into a utility pole and tree.
   ”We heard this screech and then this horrendous thud,” Ms. Scott said. “We jumped up and ran out of the house.”
   What the two found was Officer Wille unconscious inside his car, the doors wedged shut from the impact, Mr. Nish said.
   Three other witnesses rushed to the officer’s aid. Allentown resident Jeff Lang, 48, had just dropped off his son for youth orchestra practice. And two other township men — Kyle Cornelius, of Old York Road, and Mathieu Detriax, address unlisted — also ran over to help, police said.
   Mr. Nish and Mr. Lang repeatedly banged on the windows of the car to try and get Officer Wille’s attention, they both said. But at that point the patrol car’s right front wheel caught fire and the blaze was threatening to spread right into the passenger cabin, according to Mr. Lang.
   Ms. Scott said she ran into the back barn of her parents’ house to grab a baseball bat, which Mr. Lang used to break the car’s back windshield and vent out some of the smoke that starting to fill the vehicle’s interior.
   Officer Wille had regained consciousness by this point and started to complain about pain to his back and neck, Ms. Scott said.
   As more seconds ticked forward, the fire had now spread to the passenger side of the car, she added.
   ”It was only a matter of seconds he had before he was going to live or he was going to die,” Ms. Scott said.
   Meanwhile, an unknown woman driving a pickup truck pulled up, and Mr. Nish was able to grab the truck’s trailer hitch and break the driver’s side window to create an exit for Officer Wille.
   But the officer’s seat belt was still fastened, and Officer Wille was still pinned inside, Mr. Nish said.
   ”He gave me his knife and I cut his seat belt, then me and three other guys pulled him out through the window,” Mr. Nish added.
   In less than it would take for someone to roll down a car window, flames engulfed the driver’s seat where Officer Wille had just been sitting, and rounds of ammunition inside the car began exploding, yielding to the intense heat.
   ”As soon as I saw all of the fire, I knew it was a different game,” Mr. Lang said. “The whole car was engulfed and then ammunition rounds starting popping off.”
   Ms. Scott and her mother, Lisa, ran inside the house to wrap Officer Wille in blankets and help prevent him from going into shock, Ms. Scott said.
   ”There was a point there,” Ms. Scott said before trailing off and adding, “I didn’t want to see anyone die, burning to death. That drove us to work even harder to get him out.”
   ”It was a pretty intense five minutes,” she added.
   After he was rescued, paramedics treated Officer Wille at the scene for head and neck injuries and then took him to Capital Health Systems at Fuld in Trenton, police said.
   Hospital spokesman Don MacNeill said Wednesday that he would not be surprised if Officer Wille were released in a matter of days. Officer Wille remained hospitalized Thursday.
   Police Chief William Spain could not hide his gratitude that one of his officers was safe and relatively sound, thanks to a handful of quick-thinking good Samaritans.
   ”Their prompt and decisive actions at the minimum saved him from serious injury, and likely saved his life,” Chief Spain said Wednesday. ”I’d like to express my thanks on behalf of the entire Police Department.”
   Mayor Janice Mironov echoed the chief’s thanks.
   ”The quick actions of bravery and willingness of these people to get involved clearly saved Officer Wille’s life,” she said. ”It’s very uplifting to have such good people around in these situations, and we are all very grateful and proud of them for their actions.”
   The mayor said the rescuers will be honored by the township.
   As for three of the rescuers, they humbly refused to self-aggrandize, each one saying they could not have saved the officer without the other’s help.
   When first asked about his deeds, Mr. Lang immediately said, “three other people helped out.” And both Mr. Nish and the younger Ms. Scott chalked up their quick actions to reflex and instinct.
   ”You don’t think about it. You just go into survival mode,” Ms. Scott said.
   Mr. Nish added, “It was just a reaction. I didn’t really think about it. It just kind of happened.”
   The accident remained under investigation Thursday by township police and the Mercer County prosecutor’s office Serious Collision Response Team.