Police and bystanders formed a human chain to pull a driver from a burning car that had veered down a steep embankment in Florida on Sunday.
The dramatic rescue was captured on video by a passerby.
The rescue occurred on Route 1 in Palm Bay, southeast of Orlando, around 11:00 a.m. ET, Palm Bay Police Department spokesman Mike Brandish told NBC News.
Bystander Tom Sais rushed after the car, breaking its rear window and crawling inside, NBC affiliate WESH reported.
Sais found the driver dangling upside down, the station reported, so he hit the seat belt button and the driver tumbled on top of him.
“He wrapped both arms around the seat belt and he said, ‘Leave me alone,’” Sais told the station.
Brandish said that two officers and six or seven bystanders joined in a “communal” effort to pull the driver to safety.
Cellphone footage shows flames growing larger as several men pull one another up a hill dense with vegetation.
"Strangers coming together for a common goal, saving a man’s life," Said told WESH. "It was beautiful."
Brandish told NBC News that the driver, who was not identified, may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol or suffering from a medical condition.