Teen pulls man from burning car

HAYMARKET, Va. -- Christopher Berger put his life on the line to save a complete stranger from a burning vehicle.

It happened Saturday, when the 18-year-old was driving in the area of Logmill Road and Shelter Lane near Haymarket.

In the car in front of him a woman was waving frantically, trying to get him to stop. When he did, she told him there was an overturned Hummer SUV on fire up ahead.

Berger told her to call 911, and then he went running toward the SUV, he said.

The smashed-up vehicle was on its top, fire bursting from its engine, and he could hear someone inside the car pounding, desperately hoping to get someone’s attention, said Berger.

His adrenaline rushing, he grabbed the passenger door handle and threw open the door, ripping the handle completely off the car.

With what seemed to be little effort at the time, Berger grabbed the crash victim’s arm and pulled him from the SUV and back on to his feet, he said. The stranger looked at him, and then collapsed.

“I will never forget his eyes, they were extremely bloodshot, probably the deepest, darkest bloodshot eyes that I have ever seen,” said Berger.

The man briefly regained consciousness and Berger was able to get him to walk away from the crash, back to the woman he had told to call for help.

By that time, he said, the magnitude of the situation had settled in and fire and rescue crews were arriving on the scene.

Berger told the woman he had to leave, and then got back in his vehicle and went to his home just a few miles away off Logmill Road.

The victim was flown to a local hospital following the crash. His condition was not available.

Berger has not heard from the man whose life he saved, and fire and rescue officials say their policy does not allow them to identify crash victims.

But rescue officials have identified Berger as a hero.

“I spent 15 years with fire and rescue and I have never seen anyone do something like this,” said Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue Chief Lance McClintock.

Berger and his 18-year-old girlfriend, Nicole Stailker, went back to the scene of crash Tuesday to talk about what happened.

Both will begin their senior year at Battlefield High School on Sept. 7.

“He is the kind of guy who just helps people, I mean he just ran to a burning car that was probably a bagillion degrees just to help someone out,” said Stailker.

The county fire and rescue and local police departments also plan to recognize his actions.

Berger is supposed to meet with the officer who investigated the crash on Wednesday, to speak about possibly receiving an award for his bravery, he said.

But he doesn’t see himself as a hero.

“I feel like I was just in the right place at the right time, and then I really didn’t think anything of it afterawards. I was really just in shock at what had just happened, but I wasn’t really thinking that I was a hero or anything. I still don’t,” said Berger.

If put in the situation again, he said he would still run to the rescue of a complete stranger, because he hopes someone would do the same for him, he said.

Berger’s father, Mike, said his son knows the balance of courage and bravery.

“I said to him, ‘why did you go running toward that burning car?’ but he’s been very quiet about the whole thing. It’s like John Wayne said: You’ve got to have the courage to know that you’re scared but still saddle up and do it,” his father said.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-530-3905.