Deputy saves dog's life by pulling him from burning car

It’s a police officer’s duty to help everyone in their community, whether they be human or animal. When a pet’s life is in danger, emergency responders won’t hesitate to save the day.

Now one police officer is being hailed as a hero for saving a dog from a burning vehicle, a moment captured in dramatic video.

On January 22, Deputy Michael Gregorek of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department, in Colorado, responded to a call about a car fire.

He recalls seeing a man throwing something into the vehicle, and at first assumed it was an incident involving “molotov cocktails.”

But people at the scene soon informed him that the man was the car’s owner — and that his dog, Hank, was trapped inside.

“It flipped [the] switch from ‘It’s obviously not a crime’ to ‘Now we have a life,’” Gregorek recalled in a video posted by the department.

The owner had been desperately trying to get the dog out of the car before it was too late. Smoke was pouring out of the car’s windows, with the pet no doubt suffering inside.

Gregorek jumped into action, braving the dangerous smoke and fire. He used a retractable baton to smash the car’s windows, looking for an opening to pull the dog to safety.

After breaking through the glass in the car’s rear, Hank finally appeared, sticking his head through the smashed window. He was distressed and salivating, and his owner quickly ran over to try and pull him out.

When he was unsuccessful, Deputy Gregorek pulled the dog out.

“That’s his baby, I’m not going to get in his way while he’s trying to rescue his baby,” the deputy recalled. “But the second he opens up an opening for me I just went in there and grabbed on and his body had already started to tense up, so I knew he was really in a bad way.”

The dramatic rescue video has gone viral online, and many have praised Gregorek as a hero. But the deputy, a dog owner himself, says it was all part of the job.

“I would’ve done – you know – the same thing whether it be baby, human, dog, cat,” said Gregorek. “A life is a life. You kind of treat it as such in a situation like that.”

Thanks to his quick action, it looks like Hank is going to be okay. Gregorek says neighbors gave the dog water and his wife, a veterinarian, examined the dog’s health. But he says the dog was in good spirits not long after the ordeal.

“I went over and gave him a good pet and he’s good,” he said.