‘She Was His Angel’: Paralyzed Texas Man Pulled from Burning Car by Bystander

A brave woman pulled a paralyzed man out of a vehicle right before it was engulfed in flames in a Dallas, Texas, neighborhood.

Dennis Brown, who was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot with a gun when he was 22, was sitting in a rental vehicle that caught on fire, the New York Post reported. 

“It’s kind of dawning on me the kind of danger I was in,” Brown told the Post. “If it wasn’t for Tammi, I don’t know how I possibly would’ve gotten out or how close I would’ve gotten burned or wouldn’t be here today if not for Tammi.”

Tammi Arrington, a resident of Mississippi, was sitting on her friend’s couch when she looked out the window and noticed flames coming from the vehicle. 

She ran outside to the vehicle and, at first, did not notice Brown sitting in the driver’s seat. 

“I just happened to see his head move just a little bit from the headrest, and then I realized there was someone in there,” Arrington told the Post. 

Arrington opened the door, urging Brown to get out of the vehicle. However, Brown said he could not since he is paralyzed. 

At first, Arrington grabbed Brown’s wheelchair but quickly realized she would not have enough time to assemble it. 

Instead, she dragged him out of the vehicle just before it was engulfed in flames entirely. 

Brown’s family members visited and thanked Arrington at her friend’s house, but neither Brown nor his loved ones got Arrington’s name. 

Hoping to give Arrington a proper thank you, Brown interviewed with Fox 4 in the hopes that she would see it.   

“I’d like to appreciate her for her heroic act,” he told the station. “She went into harm’s way to save me. Dragged me out. I’d like to thank her.”

Arrington heard from her friend about Brown’s desire to talk with her, and she contacted the news station to get his number. 

Brown’s mother, Julia, has called Arrington her son’s angel. 

“I almost lost my child in this burning car,” Julia said. “I cannot thank her enough. If she had not pulled him out, he would have burned in that car. She was his angel.”

Brown plans on taking Arrington out to dinner the next time she is in town.