Men Honored For Saving Children From Car In Rancho Murieta Crash

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Two men were honored for saving the lives of two children after witnessing a horrific car crash.

It seemed like just any other night on their way home from work. On this night there was a head-on crash and Corey Walker and Larry Roberts jumped into action.

Sacramento Metro Firefighters honored the men who put themselves in harm's way to save the lives of two children trapped in a burning car. The men were driving home in September along Highway 16 near Rancho Murieta when two cars crashed head-on in front of them.

Walker pulled over and called 911.

"By that time there were multiple explosions with the cars," he said.

One woman made it out of the wreckage yelling that her children were still trapped in the car.

"I went through the flames and I grabbed a wheel bearing—a hot piece of the wheel bearing—and I came back around the flames again, and I couldn't see the kids inside, but I could hear them in there, and I yelled, 'Move back away from the window,' and I threw it through the window and ran up and the little girl just lunged out and immediately grabbed me," Walker said.

"He grabbed the girl and he went out and when I looked through the window, I noticed the boy was still in his seatbelt, and so I just went up and under like that, and I stuck out my arms, and he just kind of looked at me and we both undid the seatbelt and he fell right in my arms and then I just pulled him and took him to his mother," Roberts said.

The drivers of both cars died at the scene, but crews said firefighter Randall Hein says it could have been much more tragic if those men hadn't stepped in.

"These gentlemen were at the right place at the right time—took action instead of just standing by," he said.