Midshipman, Officer Candidate Use Training to Save Accident Victims

March 01, 2012

A Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Midshipman and an officer candidate from Old Dominion University (ODU) and members of the Hampton Roads NROTC consortium, used their Navy training to save a woman and child from a fiery car crash.

Midshipman 1st Class Jason Benning, 22, from Virginia Beach, Va., and Officer Candidate Joshua Moore, 26, from Bluffs, Il., were driving to their homes in Virginia Beach following an evening maintenance engineering course when they saw a one-car accident at the interchange of Interstates 264-64 east of downtown Norfolk.

"At first, it just appeared to be a disabled vehicle on the side of the road," Moore said. "But it was facing the wrong direction, facing westbound in the eastbound lane. And we could see a fire had started from the engine compartment in the front."

Moore and Benning pulled their vehicles over to see if there was anyone in the vehicle.

"There was no one standing around the car and it appeared as if [the accident] had just happened," Moore said. "Midshipman Benning and I both pulled over along with a truck whose driver had seen the accident happen in his rear view mirror."

Moore said the three then ran to the car, with Benning calling 9-1-1 on his cell phone, to report the accident and request a fire truck and ambulance to be sent.

"When we got there, you could see the fire was getting larger and we started knocking on windows but we didn't get a response," Moore said.

Benning said the car was starting to fill up with smoke, making it difficult to see if there was anyone in the vehicle. Moore then grabbed a hammer from another passer-by who had tools in the trunk of his vehicle. Just as the midshipman and officer candidate were going to knock out a window in the car, a highway safety officer pulled up with an extinguisher to assist in beating down the flames.

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