[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish deputy recovering after being pulled from burning vehicle

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish deputy recovering after being pulled from burning vehicle

Published: Wednesday, December 15, 2010, 6:53 PM     Updated: Wednesday,
December 15, 2010, 9:24 PM

 By The Times-Picayune 

A St. Bernard Parish sheriff's deputy who was pulled from his burning patrol
unit by three passers-by is recovering from his injuries, the Sheriff's
Office said Wednesday.

Deputy Jeffery Westerfield suffered a neck injury in the Sunday morning
wreck in which his vehicle left the roadway and struck a tree in the median
of East Judge Perez Drive in Violet as he responded to an alarm at a bank.
Westerfield was treated at a New Orleans hospital and released, the
Sheriff's Office said.

The patrol unit caught fire in the 12:40 a.m. crash.

Eric Alfonso, 18, a Chalmette High School senior from Violet, and Ray
Henritzy Jr., 22, of eastern St. Bernard, were passing through the area at
the time of the crash and responded immediately. They were soon joined by
Cpl. Johnell Young, an off-duty sheriff's deputy working a private security
detail nearby.

The men pulled a dazed Westerfield from the crashed vehicle as the fire
spread from the engine to the rest of the car, the Sheriff's Office said.

"We grabbed him and dragged him away,'' said Alfonso, a football player and
wrestler who was returning home after viewing the state high school football
championship game in the Superdome. "If we wouldn't have pulled him out I
honestly believe he would might have burned.''

Young said the fire quickly engulfed the vehicle.

"I appreciate the courage those two guys displayed,'' he said.

Efforts to reach Henritzy late Wednesday were not successful.