4 Hurt In 5-Car Accident On Stockton Street

STOCKTON (CBS13) – Four people were hurt, one critically, in a five-car accident on a surface street in Stockton.

The crash happened just after 11 Monday morning at the intersection of Harding Way and West Lane.

Police believe the driver of a black pickup truck was traveling north on West Lane at a high rate of speed when they rear-ended a car and flipped over, which led to the chain-reaction accident.

One of the cars in the accident burst into flames just seconds after the crash. Two men working in a nearby auto shop used fire extinguishers to douse the flames and worked to help some of the injured before emergency crews arrived.

"I was really nervous, nervous, nervous," eyewitness Jacob Puckett said.

But those nerves quickly transformed into courage. Puckett and his coworker wasted no time jumping into action as the fiery five-car pile up unfolded in front of their eyes.

"I seen him on fire and was I like, 'Ah man, this guy is going to burn up,'" Puckett said. "It was pretty intense."

The pair of men quickly grabbed fire extinguishers.

"We used one, it ran out, started using this one," Amir Tavakoli said.

After putting out the car blaze, the men rushed to pull strangers from the wreckage.

"We pulled the other ones out, but the one in the T-bird was stuck," Tavakoli said. "We couldn't pull him out."

Rescuers rushed the man in the Thunderbird and three others to the hospital.

The intersection of Harding way and West Lane looked like a pile of mangled metal.

Officers are investigating why the pickup driver didn't stop in time and they're hoping red light cameras will yield clues

"That's one thing investigators will go back to, to see exactly what's on the videos," Officer Joe Silva said.