A Chattanooga police officer helped rescue a family of three from a burning apartment building in Hixson, Tennessee, earlier this month. Body camera footage released by the Chattanooga Police Department this week shows Officer Eli Rogers entering the building after neighbors tell him people are still inside, despite flames being visible near the front door.
He carries four-year-old Marlowe Blaylock to safety while her mother, Rachel Blaylock, follows with her 10-year-old son, Charles. Blaylock says she kept thinking about how she would get both children down the stairs and says Rogers just grabbed her daughter and was even “willing to go back in.” She also says she tried to tell him no one else was inside as he prepared to return upstairs.
The body camera video also showed Rogers using a fire extinguisher to fight the blaze before firefighters arrived. Chattanooga Police say no one was injured in the incident and note that officers are not trained firefighters but do take an oath to serve and protect. A crowdfund page for the family says they lost their home and most of their belongings in the fire and they credit neighbors who called 911 with helping everyone escape safely.
Source: WOWT
photo: GETTY