HOUSTON — Alex Solis was watching TV at his east Houston home just before midnight Thursday when he heard a boom.
He said he thought his daughter might have fallen out of her bed. When he checked on her, she was fine.
Then he looked out of his window.
What he saw sent him running out into the night: A car on fire at the intersection of Bonham and Crown streets.
Solis said as he ran towards the burning Ford Focus, someone else shouted that a person was trapped inside the car.
Braving the flames, he checked the door handle. It was jammed.
As he worked to get the door open, he said he knew he had to get the person out before the car exploded.
He was just in time.
Solis was able to pull the passenger out. She was badly burned and going in and out of consciousness but alive.
Houston police said the driver of the Focus was speeding, crashed, and flipped the car into a ditch, where it caught fire.
Houston fire officials said both the driver and the passenger were out of the burning by the time they arrived just a few minutes later.
They said a bystander -- in this case Alex Solis, a Good Samaritan in the right place at the right time --- had pulled them from the vehicle.
At last check, both victims were being treated for burns at the hospital.
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