LIVINGSTON COUNTY, Mich. – Deputy Lonnie Chapman has spent 19 years with the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department and saw almost everything. But last week was a new one.
Chapman was getting ready to head out on a call in the northern part of the county when a pickup truck flew by him going 90 miles an hour down Byron Road.
Before he could turn his squad around, the truck disappeared, but he went looking anyway.
A dust cloud on a dirt road tipped him to where the driver went, so he followed. When the dust cleared near the intersection of Marr Road and Marwood Drive, it was clear the driver had lost control, gone airborne, and slammed into a tree, and his truck was on fire.
“It was pretty bad, a lot of smoke, some flames,” said Chapman. “The front of the car was demolished, and he was pinned under the car.”
Neighbor Bryan Pace was inside his home when he heard what happened.
“It was like an almighty thump,” said Pace.
Both men ran to help.
The female passenger was crawling from the wreck. The driver was trapped up front as the floorboards had peeled back, trapping his legs.
“I saw there were flames on the dashboard, so I went indoors and grabbed the fire extinguisher,” Pace said.
Chapman could see the fire building and knew he had to pull the driver out before the truck exploded. Time was of the essence, so he wrenched him free and dragged him to safety.
Minutes later, the truck was vaporized in a ball of fire. It was burning so hot that Chapman dragged him up a nearby hill to escape it.
“Without Deputy Chapman, we would be doing his obituary,” Pace said.
That 24-year-old driver has substantial injuries, but he will make it.
Livingston County Sheriff Mike Murphy told Local 4 that hero was the right word to describe Chapman.
