A Camden County police officer, Joseph Mair, suffered serious injuries to his legs while investigating a crash Thursday night. A week earlier, he was among several people honored for a brave rescue of two men trapped in a burning wreck.
What to Know
- Mair was among four Camden County police officers who helped rescue two men as flames raced through their cars after a crash on I-676.
- The Camden officers, a Delaware River Port Authority Police officer and a group of bystanders worked through the heat of the fire April 7.
- Mair suffered serious leg injuries when he was run over while investigating another car wreck Thursday night.
One of four Camden County police officers honored recently for pulling two people from a burning car wreck was fighting for his life Friday after being struck by a taxi.
Officer Joseph Mair was checking out another car wreck late Thursday night in Camden City when the taxi, which had been involved in the crash Mair was investigating, allegedly accelerated into the cop, police said.
It was not clear Friday night exactly what happened to cause the taxi driver to begin driving and run over Mair, police said. The driver has not yet been charged.
"Officer Mair actually went under the vehicle," Camden County police Chief Scott Thomson said. "The wheels went over the top of Officer Mair."
He is in intensive care at a nearby hospital with extensive injuries to his hip and legs, police said.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
Mair and three fellow officers, along with some bystanders, became instant heroes last week after body camera footage from a fiery crash April 7 showed a rescue of two men.
Mair, along with Officers Vaughn Edwards, Brian McCline and Vincent Russomanno were honored last Friday.
The video showed them shattering windows and withstanding intense as flames engulfed two vehicles and began burning the drivers trapped inside.
Aided by Delaware River Port Authority police Officer Franklin Flash and various bystanders, the officials pulled the men away from the wreckage just before the flames fully engulfed the cars.
"Your adrenaline's rushing, but at the end of the day you have a job to do and you don't want anyone getting hurt. Our motto here is, 'Service before self,' so we have to put that before ourselves," Edwards said.
Thomson, the police chief, said he visited with Mair in the hospital and the officer is already itching to get back on the job.
"He wants to get back to work as quick as possible, but our message to him and his family was just focus on getting better," Thomson said.
