Thomas Rush saw trouble brewing as he drove on through Linwood Township Tuesday morning. Just 50 feet ahead of him a pickup started veering over the centerline as a SUV from the opposite direction approached.
He pulled onto the shoulder to give the SUV an escape route, but the two vehicles collided head-on in the middle of the two-lane Anoka County road. The pickup started on fire.
He quickly called 911, then ran to the SUV, but got no response from the driver. He turned to the burning pickup where another passerby had spotted a toddler strapped in a car seat in the back seat.
"She was crying, screaming and had blood on her face," said Rush, 35, of Grandy, Minn. "I saw the flames, opened the door and pulled her out."
He carried the 3-year-old to safety, then returned to the pickup. By then flames had overtaken the truck and he was unable to help the driver.
Rush, who has two children of his own, didn't think twice about springing into action.
"It tugs at your heart," he said. "If I were ever in that situation, I'd hope somebody would go for the child."
Authorities on Wednesday identified the two people killed in the fiery wreck. They are Genie Ann Mohr, 73, of Columbus, and Curtis Durand, 64, of Mound.
