Through the smoke, he could see one thing in the back seat of the burning car. It was a girl’s left arm, lit by the flames.
It was July 8, 2022, a Friday, on a highway in Midway, Georgia. A sedan had collided with a dump truck and struck its fuel tank.
Midway is a small town in Liberty County, in coastal Georgia. Both vehicles had burst into flames.
Brian K. Patterson was driving on the same road and saw it happen. He was 36, an aircraft mechanic from Ludowici, Georgia.
His teenage son was with him. They got out and ran to the sedan.
They reached the driver, a mother, and walked her to a spot about 50 feet from the car.
Then she told him her daughter was still in the back seat. Her name was Alexa Tschantz. She was 11.
He had walked one person out of the fire’s reach. Now he had to go back toward it.
A president used this same move once before in 1934
Trump's approval is at 36%. Midterms are one month away. He needs a move that changes everything overnight.
He has one. It doesn't require Congress. It could add over $1 trillion to the government's balance sheet and potentially make a large number of everyday Americans very wealthy.
A president used this same move once before in 1934. It created generational fortunes. A free report explains what it is and how to get positioned before he plays it.
Patterson ran back to the car. The smoke inside was thick. In the glow of the flames, he could make out her left arm.
He leaned into the burning car up to his shoulders. He took hold of her arm and pulled her across the seat and out. He dragged her away from the car. Her clothes were on fire.
He pulled off his shirt and used it to smother the flames. A bystander ran up with a fire extinguisher and helped him put them out. The extinguisher came after he had already reached her.
Patterson and his son stayed with Alexa until emergency crews arrived to take her to a hospital.
She had fractures to the bones around both eyes and burns over 70 percent of her body. She spent about three months in the hospital recovering.
She was alive. The hair on Patterson’s arms and face was singed. He did not see a doctor.
In 2026, he was awarded the Carnegie Medal. It is given to civilians in the United States and Canada who enter extreme danger to save or try to save the lives of others.
He was one of 18 people named in the commission’s first announcement of that year. His rescue was one of the few it highlighted at the top of that announcement. The record names no one else who went into that car.
His son was beside him from the moment they left their vehicle until the ambulance came.
If you had already walked one person 50 feet from the fire and she told you her daughter was still inside, would you have gone back?