Good Samaritans pull woman from car before fire, but she does not survive Roosevelt Boulevard crash

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Two people pulled a woman from her smashed vehicle just before it caught fire on the Roosevelt Boulevard, but she did not survive.

It happened shortly before 3 a.m. Thursday on the Boulevard just south of Welsh Road in Northeast Philadelphia.

A Philadelphia police officer on patrol a block away was flagged down.

When he arrived on the scene, he saw a Mazda fully engulfed in flames.

Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said the flames were shooting five feet above the vehicle.

Police said the 26-year-old driver went through a red light while in the southbound outer lanes of the Boulevard at Woodward Street, jumped the median, then crossed over the inner lanes. The vehicle then ran up onto the center median where it slammed into a tree.

Police said two good Samaritans saw the crash and ran to help as the car began to smoke.

"When they first saw the vehicle catching on fire, they were able to get the female out of the vehicle and drag her about 100 feet north where they laid her on the median, however, medics pronounced her dead," Small said.

Small said the victim was not burned. He said the witnesses did a good job, as they got her out before the fire started, but he said she succumbed to her injuries sustained in the crash.

Police said they know the identity of the victim who lived just outside the city.