Sheriff's deputy who saved trucker from fiery crash receives award
A Washington County deputy received an award Sunday from the Minnesota Sheriff’s Association for pulling a FedEx semi-driver out of a fiery crash on Interstate 94 near Afton.
Deputy Chris Majeski responded to the crash in June, when a wrong-way driver crashed into a FedEx truck. The collision caused the wrong-way vehicle to catch fire and killed the driver, who was later determined to be intoxicated.
Body cam and dash cam footage shows Majeski urging the disoriented FedEx truck driver to get out of the cab of his truck. “Come on quick! Come to me, come to me,” Majeski is heard telling the truck driver.
In an interview with MPR News, Majeski said, “Honestly, it looked like a movie scene because the flames are so big. They’re so hot, and all the debris, it was pretty intense.”
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To rescue the truck driver, Majeski said he had to jump over a highway median to pull the FedEx driver out of the truck, which was leaking gas.
“I as a deputy, I've never experienced anything like that,” he said. “I've obviously seen a lot of accidents in my career, but nothing of that magnitude where we had to pull a guy out of a truck like that.”
Majeski received the Life Saving Award from the sheriff’s association.
“I've been very, very blessed with all the opportunities I've been given,” he said. “Sometimes as deputies we train for stuff that never happens. And this one I think with my training at the fire department and my instincts and my intuition just to pull this guy out when I did, probably, you know for sure saved this guy's life.”
Majeski has been working for the Washington County Sheriff's Office since 2003. He accepted the award at a ceremony in Alexandria.