Watch Live: Second House Hearing on IRS Scandal

Watch: Iowa Police Officer Displays True Heroism, Pulls Unconscious Driver From Burning Car

Mar. 12, 2013 4:47pm Jason Howerton

URBANDALE, Iowa (TheBlaze/AP) — An Iowa police officer has rescued an unconscious driver by pulling him from his burning car.

Urbandale police spokesman Randy Peterson said Tuesday that Officer Zac McDowell wasn’t injured Sunday night when he saved 18-year-old Ian Waseskuk. The officer’s dashboard camera shows McDowell opening the car’s passenger door, reaching in and grabbing Waseskuk to pull him away from the flames.

Police say Waseskuk was driving in circles, doing “doughnuts,” in a church parking lot across from his home in suburban Des Moines when his car hit an air conditioning unit.

Peterson says Waseskuk will be charged with misdemeanor reckless driving when he leaves Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. Hospital spokesman Gregg Lagan says Waseskuk is in fair but stable condition.

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

Back to The Blaze »

Comments (35)

Msgt Ret
Posted on March 13, 2013 at 7:22am
“Waseskuk” common name from a local native american tribe!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Sheepdog69
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 8:56pm
Mike76, still real **** hurt about that last speeding ticket, huh?

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- supermansdad
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 9:27pm
  You’ll have to forgive him, he’s still **** hurt about Ron Paul not even winning his home county much less the election.
  
  Report this comment
woodyee
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 7:44pm
Darwin thwarted again!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
spirited
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 6:40pm
Well done Officer.

>Dounut dummy, Send a thank you note.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
BannedByHuffpo
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 6:33pm
I can’t help but think that there’s a fundamental difference in culturally instilled values being from a midwest fly-over state such as Iowa. Folks there, and in Nebraska and Kansas and South Dakota, and Indiana, and Illinois (OK except Chicago) etc., etc., weren’t raised and don’t think like city slickers from NY or LA. Regardless of you political pursuasion, midwesten folks see you as a neighbor first. And when your neighbor needs a hand, you don’t hesitate.

Kudos Office McDowell. Your actions must make citizens of Iowa very proud that you’re one of them.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- jeanr
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 8:05pm
  True. I remember all of that 9/11 footage of the NYPD and NYFD cowards running as fast as their feet would take them from the burning towers.
  
  Report this comment
- supermansdad
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 8:32pm
  And yet your ignorantly forget that many were running INTO them at the same time.
  
  Report this comment
- jeanr
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 11:04pm
  uuummm…yeah, you’re right. I remember that now. What the hell was I thinking of, then?
  
  Report this comment
- Eastinfection
  Posted on March 13, 2013 at 7:53am
  SUPERMANSDAD……
  
  sar·casm
  /ˈsärˌkazəm/
  Noun
  The use of irony to mock or convey contempt.
  
  Report this comment
Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 6:13pm
A. The car was burning outside in the engine compartment. B. He was there because it’s his job. If it was someone else’s job it would be they who were there. Most anyone who was there would do the same. C. It took him long enough. D. Did he have to run back to the car for what he didn’t have on him in the first place? E. Still, good job bro.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- kiwiburgerwithcheese
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 7:02pm
  as a former fireman, don’t second guess someone from an armchair…regardless of whether the fire was in the engine compartment (if you look it’s already over the roof on the driver side) it would be burning hot….the officer is saved the kids life….kudos to him…
  
  Report this comment
- kiwiburgerwithcheese
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 7:03pm
  don’t second guess someone from an armchair…it would still have been scorching hot, and the flames are already over the roof of the car on the drivers’ side…the cop did an excellent job…kudos to him
  
  Report this comment
Rileydj
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 6:10pm
Just did his job??? Are you kidding me?
Doing his job would be securing the area and waiting for the fire dept and EMS.
He risked a lot going in that car; skin Burns, Toxic gases, Smoke inhalation…..
Love these arm chair critics –
And no I am not a political hack, or a civil servant, I am a combat veteran (VN) who can appreciate a good man when I see him!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Budrow
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 6:03pm
Good job Zac, I’m sure your efforts are appreciated.

Curious about the bursts of light that erupts in the video just about the time the driver’s head would have been bouncing on the ground from being jerked out of the care. What was that from or was the video doctored?

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- vandy
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 6:25pm
  Its the flashlight he dropped, then kicked it while dragging the victim back. I think…
  
  Report this comment
- JRHelgeson
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 6:25pm
  The officer dropped his Mag light on the ground, facing the camera. Dragging the body away spun the flashlight away from pointing toward the camera, you can see the light on the ground at :36 seconds.
  
  Report this comment
jungle J
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 5:56pm
This isn’t so brave a junkie risks his life every time he lights a pipe…tongue in cheek.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Mike76
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 5:55pm
So he’s a hero for…? Doing his job? “Hey, Joe got to work on time again. That guy is a real hero!”

Just put on a government uniform and make sure the people don’t interfere in the interest of the state, and all the trained sheep will call you a hero. Ain’t Communism grand?

He pulled the guy out to write him a ticket and earn more revenue for the state, not save his life.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Eastinfection
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 6:04pm
  i think it’s all relative…. for example…
  
  If it was your job to convince the Democrats to cut spending, and you successfully performed that task… I would have no problem calling you a “hero”.
  
  Report this comment
- kiwiburgerwithcheese
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 7:04pm
  Well, for your sake, I hope he ‘does his job’ when you need him.
  
  Report this comment
- supermansdad
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 8:45pm
  Somebody has recieved a few tickets I bet…….
  
  Just because the cops took your beer as a teen, then your pot, then your car away for no insurance/pot/beer/other-ignorance-on-your-part, doesn’t mean they were not doing their job.
  
  This goes to show the absolute ignorance of the general Neo-Anarchists & Hard core Paulbots. A cops gun is there to save and protect him, his job is not now nor will it ever be to protect any individual from any danger. An officers JOB is to enforce local, state and federal laws and to prevent societal harm not individual harm.
  
  It is NOT his job to excrate a victim from a burning house or vehicle. It is not his job to go running into a collapsing building. Please stop being an id10t for half a second and ask your self this: if they run into a collapsing building…..who will they save? You can’t save anybody if you need to be rescued. A life guard saving a drowning person under a pier doesn’t put their body between the pillar and the victim, otherwise 2 people have to be rescued.
  
  You are using the same argument that the left does to issue MOH to people for self sacrifice when it used to be for closing with and destroying the enemy.
  
  Report this comment
- Interceptor911
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 8:55pm
  Oh please go choke on something . You wouldn’t have had the balls to do what he did. He stepped up. And you want to tear him down. Seriously dude, you sovereign citizen types make me sick.
  
  Report this comment
Iowa_Prest
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 5:52pm
After reading a lot of these comments, it appears to me some of you people are just stupid and want to complain about something. I live near this and I remember when I was a kid doing doughnuts in the snow was a lot of fun. What I have to say is yes the kid should have been trying to have fun, but… at least the kid was actually smart enough to go into a open parking lot to do them instead of in the street. The churches parking lot is not actually that big and I can see how he would have over shot and hit something. Yes he should be punished for this.. but making fun of the kid and the cops is really low of some of you readers. That was a big snow/ice storm. In the morning my car had an inch of ice then snow on top of that.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Eastinfection
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 6:07pm
  I sort of agree….
  
  Doing donuts in the snow is fun…
  but playfully teasing cops and dopey kids is fun, too.
  
  Report this comment
- isay
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 7:14pm
  I’m sure the officer not only saved the young man’s life, but also changed his life as well as others that have viewed the video. Officer Zac McDowell is a hero.
  
  Report this comment
- ADNIL
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 7:34pm
  Lots of fun, spinning circles in a parking lot on slippery snow. A young man was doing just that in a parking lot in Brewer Maine this winter when the car went totally out of control and slammed into the parked cars. Unfortunately, a woman who used to work with my husband was standing next to the car and was crushed between them. She recieved 2 broken femurs, a back broken in several places, a crushed ribcage, contusions to her heart and numerous other internal injuries. She survived after several surgeries that had to be done in Boston, but she will never be the same. Indepenence, gone. All so someone could have a little fun? What would you do about something like that?
  
  Report this comment
- Eastinfection
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 7:48pm
  I would say that whoever was doing that was an idiot.
  When we did doughnuts in the snow it was always a huge vacant lot in the middle of the night.
  
  Report this comment
Fubared
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 5:38pm
Cop saves A User. Again.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
DZ-015
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 5:32pm
Good thing there was no explosion. This is one bad outcome from doing donuts in the snow. Good job, officers!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
jakartaman
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 5:24pm
I don’t know if the officer did the world a favor.
But a life is a life even a stupid one.
Hope Ian can learn from this “experience”

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Eastinfection
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 5:15pm
They got there ASAP when they heard the dispatcher mention “doughnuts”.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- resme
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 5:32pm
  Roasted Doughnuts?
  
  Report this comment
- Eastinfection
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 5:57pm
  lol RESME…. the driver may have been worthy of a sign saying “freshly baked” before even getting behind the wheel.
  
  Report this comment
- supermansdad
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 9:26pm
  It’s funny you mention doughnuts…
  During a HAZMAT class we learned that a powdered doughnut is the perfect incident tool.
  
  HAZMAT rules: upwind, upstream, up hill and far enough away.
  
  If I hold my department issued powdered pastery towards the scene and the confectionary dust flies away from me I’m good, if it is dry I’m safe, if i’m not looking up at the scene through my pastery I’m safe, and if I can see the entire HAZMAT scene inside the hole I am a safe distance away.
  
  After all criterea are met and the powdered item is not contaminated it now becomes sustenance to provide much needed energy because HAZMAT takes fooorrrr eeevvveeeerrrr!!!!
  
  Report this comment

It appears that you have Javascript Disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser preferences for a better user experience on TheBlaze. You can not comment without Javascript enabled.