Chester County Patrol Deputy Daniel Threatt says he rolled up on Interstate 77 Saturday staring at what he feared could blow at any second: an overturned, smoking car with a driver trapped inside. Instead of waiting for the fire crews, he smashed out a window, sliced through the seatbelt and dragged the woman free just seconds before the vehicle erupted in flames. The driver, on her way to Charlotte to finish radiation treatments for breast cancer, later called Threatt her “guardian angel.”
Bodycam Shows Seconds-Long Rescue
Body-camera video released Friday by the Chester County Sheriff’s Office shows Threatt sprinting up I-77 North near Old Richburg Road to reach the wreck, a single-vehicle crash that left the car upside down and already starting to burn. In the footage, he scans the scene, grabs a piece of debris and smashes the driver’s side window, then leans in as flames creep toward the cabin. As reported by WBTV, more first responders arrived within minutes to knock down the fire and begin treating the driver.
Deputy Says He Feared The Wreck Could Explode
“This car can blow at any moment, so this is where me and her meet God,” Threatt recalled of the seconds he spent pushing into the wreck and urging the driver toward the broken window. The bodycam clip shows him cutting her seatbelt, talking her through the struggle to get free and then hauling her out of the smoking car to safer ground. His account and the quote were detailed by WSOC.
Patient On The Way To Celebrate Treatment Milestone
The driver was later identified as Carletta Bush, an out-of-state resident who had been heading to Charlotte to mark the end of radiation treatment for breast cancer. Threatt visited her in the hospital as she recovered, and she watched the rescue video for the first time during that visit. Bush has since returned to Georgia to continue treatment and is healing from a broken collarbone. Those personal details were reported by MyFox28.
Aftermath And Praise
The Chester County Sheriff’s Office publicly thanked Threatt for his “selfless service, quick thinking and bravery” when it shared the body-camera footage online. The deputy has called the rescue one of the most meaningful moments in his seven-year career, and local coverage has underscored how quickly he moved to get Bush out of danger. The sheriff’s statement and additional coverage are available from WBTV.
How To Help
Local outlets have shared a fundraiser to support Bush’s recovery, inviting anyone who wants to help to chip in. For donation links and updates on how she is doing, see coverage from WSOC.
