Oct 23, 2017 1 min read

A car struck a marked state police patrol sport utility vehicle on Interstate 376 in the vicinity of Pittsburgh International Airport about 11 p.m. Thursday, and a state trooper pulled the dazed driver to safety moments before the man’s car was engulfed in flames.

According to a release prepared by state police, Trooper Montana J. Trombetta, 24, of McKees Rocks, slowed his patrol vehicle to investigate emergency hazard lights flashing on a car stopped in an pull-off area next to a single-lane, long-term construction zone in Findlay Township, Allegheny County.

Police said a car behind the patrol vehicle failed to stop in time. Trombetta saw flames after the impact and saw the driver, Jeremy N. Haffenden, 35, of Bridgeville, had suffered a head injury.

The driver’s-side door was pinned against a construction barrier, so Trombetta pulled Haffenden out of the vehicle through the passenger-side door and then to safety just moments before the car erupted in a ball of fire.

Toxicology results for Haffenden are pending, but police said they suspect he was driving under the influence. He was taken to Allegheny General Hospital. Trombetta went to Heritage Valley Medical Center for what police described as “precautionary reasons.”