Bodycam video from a sheriff's deputy caught his heroic rescue of a pet dog from a burning vehicle in Colorado.
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office posted a video Wednesday (February 3) of the tense moment, which took place on January 22. Deputy Michael Gregorek is shown pulling up to a distressed man and an SUV with smoke billowing from it.
The man screamed that his dog was trapped inside the fiery vehicle. Without hesitation, Deputy Gregorek whipped out his retractable baton and smashed a passenger window and the back window.
"Hank, come on!" the owner could be heard reaching for the dog as it stuck its head out from the broken window. Gregorek, toxic fumes blowing in his face, was able to reach inside the smoky SUV, pull the pet out, and let him down near the snow.
In an interview after the video, the deputy says he thought it was a crime on his way to the call, citing a recent arrest involving Molotov cocktails. As soon as he heard that the owner's dog was inside the compromised SUV, Gregorek says it was a "flip switch from obviously it's not a crime and now we have a life."
The sheriff's office says a veterinarian who lived next door checked on the dog and confirmed he was okay.
"I would've done, you know, the same thing whether it be baby, human, dog, cat," Gregorek says. "A life is a life."