A bystander pulled a police officer from his car after he crashed into a tree in Chicago, Illinois on July 24, in an act many praised online. The video has provoked conversation about race and police relationships with the community in Chicago.
Footage captured by Kevin Russell shows a man opening the door of the police car and lifting the officer out onto the ground.
Russell told Storyful, “An officer had his siren on and was traveling at a high rate of speed (I could hear the engine roaring) on his way somewhere when a motorist drove out into the intersection at the last moment. To avoid the motorist, the officer swerved and smashed into a tree, and it was a bad crash.”
The Chicago Police Department said two officers were in the car and were taken to the hospital with light injuries, local news outlets reported.
In comments under the video, people praised the man who helped the officer, both of whom were black. Other people suggested the officer was complicit in police shootings of black or brown people or that the reaction would have been different if the officer had been white. Credit: Kevin Russel via Storyful
