Two Los Angeles Police Department officers and a witness who had been twirling an advertising sign jumped into action Monday, pulling a man from a burning sedan after a chain-reaction crash ignited a Metro bus in the Vermont Square area of South Los Angeles.
Rickey Clayton was working his shift as a sidewalk sign spinner at the busy intersection when he saw the crash.
"By the time I turned around to ask people to help me, I had a crowd behind me already willing to go," said Clayton. "There were black fumes and smoke, and we were trying to get anybody and everybody who might have been in danger out of the way."
As many as seven people were injured, and four vehicles were involved in the wreck, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The crash occurred when the Metro bus was making a left turn from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Western Avenue.
Metro said a car hit another car, which then hit the bus. The sedan went up in flames, which spread to the bus. The sedan involved in the crash was reduced to a smoking hull.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department applauded the officers and witness for jumping into action to help the man.
Authorities said they are investigating whether the crash involved a street race.
Fire officials said the bus driver was the only one aboard the bus when the crash occurred.
NBC4's Jonathan Lloyd and Toni Guinyard contributed to this report.
