Pine Bluff police officials credit bus driver with saving officer’s life after crash

PINE BLUFF, Ark. – A man is being called a hero after helping a Pine Bluff police officer involved in a crash with a school bus.

Pine Bluff Police Department officials said the officer involved in the crash is stable and responsive and the driver of the bus is doing fine with minor injuries.

PBPD officials said the efforts of multiple people, especially one man, saved the officer’s life.

James Carter was near the incident when it happened and was there to see the aftermath.

“As far as the cop car – completely demolished,” Carter said.

Shortly after the accident, rumors began to swirl online about a mysterious hero who put out the flames of the burning police car.

“We would like to know who the person was who stopped and put out the fire,” Pine Bluff Police Department officials posted on Facebook.

The man who managed to put the fire out had turned out to be someone who was involved in the crash: the bus driver.

“I had just dropped my last two students off at Explore and was driving down the road, stopped at the red light, and got hit from behind,” the bus driver, Carl Smith, said.

Smith said when he got out he saw that the police car that hit him was on fire. He then tried to open the doors but said they wouldn’t budge.

“The flames, they’re growing now, so my thing was ‘You got to get that fire extinguisher. You got to get these flames out, whatever you do,’” Smith said.

Some people are calling Smith a hero.

“I don’t know how you define hero,” Smith said. “I had a fire extinguisher on the bus and I used it.”

Hero or not, Smith said he was just helping a fellow citizen out.

“I helped a fellow citizen, putting those flames out and giving him a chance to get back to his family,” Smith said.

In the Facebook post, PBPD officials also thanked everyone who stopped to help the officer.

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