A Tucson couple on their way to a New Year's Eve party in Phoenix were involved in a fiery crash on Interstate 10.
But they credit their survival to a friend who pulled them out of their sport utility vehicle before it completely went up in flames.
Erin Laird, 24, and her boyfriend, 31-year-old DJ Hart, were westbound near Casa Grande at about 8:30 p.m. when Laird lost control of her 1999 Honda CR-V.
"I was driving and my car veered left," Laird said Thursday afternoon while recovering from the crash. "I couldn't control it and I couldn't see where the car was going because it was too dark."
Laird doesn't remember much of what happened after that because she was in and out of consciousness. Hart was sleeping and was awakened by his girlfriend's scream.
However, Daniel Allen, a longtime friend of the couple, was on his way to the same party and happened to be driving behind Laird and Hart when the crash happened.
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The SUV "swerved and began to go to the side of the median," Allen, 25, said. "Then it flipped. It had to have rolled between five to seven times."
Allen stopped his car and ran over to help his friends, he said. He found the SUV on its side.
"I yelled to DJ and I saw him moving, so I unbuckled his seat belt and pulled him out," Allen said.
The front end of the SUV was already on fire.
Allen then unbuckled Laird's seat belt, pulled her out and carried her away from the fire, he said.
"I just remember laying on the ground, seeing fire. I was holding DJ's hand and Daniel was standing over me, talking to us," Laird said of the moments after she was pulled from the SUV.
"I was just helping them understand that it was going to be OK and telling them to stay calm," said Allen, an assistant manager at Bally Total Fitness. "I knew that it was very scary for them and I just wanted to let them know that they were not there by themselves and that they were with someone they knew."
Laird and Hart, a general manager at Bally, were flown to Maricopa County Medical Center, said Officer Jim Oien, an Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman.
The couple was released from the hospital the next day with nothing more than cuts and bruises, said Laird, an educational specialist at New Horizons Computer Learning Center.
"If Daniel wasn't there, there is not a doubt in my mind that we would have died," Hart said. "We both were knocked out. The car was on fire."
Added Laird: "For me and my family, words cannot express the gratitude toward Daniel for saving our lives and being a hero."
