Ethiopian American Mechanic praised for rescuing woman from burning car on LBJ Freeway in northeast Dallas

By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN

As flames burst from an overturned car Monday along LBJ Freeway in northeast Dallas, Addissu Andabo punched and tore out the windshield with his bare hands.

He pulled an injured woman he’d never met from her burning vehicle just before fire engulfed the car.

And then Andabo, 22, wiped off his bloodied hands and drove back to work repairing cars in Plano.

“It’s just a regular workday,” Andabo said Monday evening.

The day started as just that. Things were slow at Firestone Complete Auto Care along West Parker Road, so Andabo’s boss sent him on a tire delivery.

As the Dallas resident drove his white pickup east on LBJ near Abrams Road about 10 a.m., he spotted a gray sedan rolling along the highway up ahead, flames coming out of it.

He pulled over, put his truck in park and ran toward the fiery car, which landed on its side and off the road. Through the cracked windshield, he could see the shock and fear in the 39-year-old woman’s eyes. He could hear her moaning in pain.

The woman was a stranger, but Andabo saw in her someone he knew well.

“Basically, I just saw my mom right there,” he said.

“We’re gonna get you out of here,” he told her as others, including a passing police officer, came to aid in the rescue.

With the fire spreading from the engine, he pounded the windshield and ripped it off with his hands. As he helped pull the woman out, her leg appeared to get stuck.

“I was scared the car was going to explode,” Andabo said.

With no time to spare, he and the others maneuvered the woman through a back door window.

The woman was taken to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas with injuries that were not life-threatening, Dallas Fire-Rescue officials said. Her name was not released Monday. It was unclear what caused the accident that led to the fire, though officials said an 18-wheeler was involved.

“I thank God that she’s alive,” said Andabo, who was raised in Ethiopia and has lived in Dallas for a few years. “I thank God that I’m alive, too.”

Andabo said he didn’t have a chance to talk to the woman after the rescue.

Dallas Fire-Rescue officials said his quick action was courageous.

“This just goes to show that you don’t have to be a firefighter to perform heroic feats,” Dallas Fire-Rescue Chief Eddie Burns said in a written statement.

In the same statement, Capt. Todd Wilson said he had never seen anything like it in 23 years with the department.

“He made me proud to do what I do,” Wilson said.

Andabo also takes pride in his work. He said he didn’t even consider taking the rest of the day off.

The Dallas Morning News

sgoldstein@dallasnews.com