By Police1 Staff
RIDLEY, Pa. — A 19-year-old man who rescued an officer from a burning cruiser when he was just 17 has graduated from the police academy, ABC 6 reported.
Joe Chambers made headlines in 2014 for his brave rescue of Officer Mark Kimsey, who was trapped in a squad car engulfed in flames after a crash.
“The door was slammed,” Chambers told NBC Philadelphia at the time. “It was dented and wouldn’t open. The car caught fire. He [Officer Kimsey] said he couldn’t feel his legs. We had to drag him through the window and he was ready for it.”
Kimsey survived the crash. The officer and his rescuer have remained close since the incident, and Kimsey was present as Chambers graduated last Thursday.
“I couldn’t think of a better person to walk across the stage and want to be a police officer,” Kimsey told ABC 6. “I look up to him just as much as I hope he looks up me.”
Chambers told the publication becoming a cop was a “dream come true” and that he was excited to get out and make a difference in the world.