Pheng Ly never expected to make national news.
But that’s exactly what happened to the Davis police corporal last week, after the Davis Police Department released dramatic video of him rescuing a woman from the wreckage of a burning car — and likely saving her life.
“I was just doing my job. To me, it’s something that any competent first responder would have done,” Ly said of the Oct. 17 incident, which in addition to receiving local media attention saw coverage on the NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News and in People magazine.
“I’m just glad I was in the right place at the right time,” the 21-year law-enforcement veteran added.
For Ly, the right place was downtown Davis, where he patrolled the streets while listening to the police scanner, as he’s done since his high-school days.
As he crossed through the Richards Boulevard underpass toward South Davis around 10:30 p.m., he heard California Highway Patrol dispatchers alert officers to a vehicle rollover on Interstate 80 near Highway 113 in Solano County, where the car flipped on its roof and caught fire.
The nearest Solano CHP officers, however, were at the Solano County Jail in Fairfield at the time — about 25 miles away — which meant Ly likely was the officer closest to the scene.
Although the call was out of his jurisdiction, “someone needs help, so I’m going to go,” Ly said. With the fire department not yet dispatched, “I’m going to get there first, and I’m probably going to be by myself.”
So Ly headed west on I-80, looking along the darkened roadsides for signs of a car ablaze. On the eastbound side, he spotted two vehicles with their emergency flashers activated, followed by an “orange glow.”
He exited at Pedrick Road and backtracked eastbound, coming upon the wreck along with two people standing nearby. At first, he thought they were crash victims who had escaped from the burning car, but they turned out to be good Samaritans who had pulled over to help.
“It was like slow motion,” Ly said of the ensuing events, which were captured on both Ly’s patrol-car and body-worn cameras.
Footage from the videos show Ly running straight toward the burning car, where he discovered a woman trapped in the back-seat area. She appeared impaired, which Ly at first suspected was due to the crash impact.
“I could feel the fire radiating on the right side of my face,” Ly recalled. He began inhaling smoke and noticed that flames had spread to the dry grass on the roadside.
Although backup still hadn’t arrived on scene, “I’m not going to watch her burn to death in there,” Ly said. So he grabbed the woman’s hands, pulled her through the window and dragged her a safe distance away.
“I just wanted to get her away from the car, because I’m not sure if it’s going to blow,” said Ly, who by this point observed the woman appeared to be intoxicated. She told Ly no one else had been in the car, “but of course I’ve got to check for myself to make sure no one else was ejected.”
A Davis fire crew, ambulance and Woodland CHP unit arrived on scene shortly thereafter, “and that’s when reality struck,” Ly said. “When you do it, you’re not thinking about it.”
But even later, Ly didn’t toot his own horn about his efforts, finishing out his shift that night with nary a word to his colleagues or family. It wasn’t until the next day that his supervisor, Sgt. Dan Powell, noted Ly’s actions during roll call, and together they watched the videos.
By the following Tuesday, word began spreading through the police department, “and then things just started going crazy,” including the media attention, Ly said. He finally told his family about the rescue before they heard about it on the news.
“I’ve always felt that there’s always going to be that one call where your mettle is going to be tested, and that incident was my call,” Ly said. “I used my training and experience to save a life, and that makes me feel good to be able to say that.”
The harrowing incident also earned Ly praise from City Manager Mike Webb and Police Chief Darren Pytel.
“We are very proud of Corporal Ly and the actions he took to rescue the driver of the vehicle. It was clear there was imminent danger, yet he ran in and did what he had to do to save her,” Pytel said. “His actions were heroic and will be formally recognized at our next awards ceremony.”
While Ly initially was on his own that night, he does believe there was a presence by his side — that of Natalie Corona, the rookie Davis police officer slain at a downtown collision scene in January 2019. Ly had been one of her training officers.
After returning from the freeway scene, Ly drove by Corona’s memorial bench at Fifth and D streets and, as he usually does, flickered his emergency lights and nodded as he passed.
“I told her thank you for watching over me and keeping me safe, because I know she was there with me,” Ly said.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene
Jackpot! Vegas woman gets stolen car back in Davis