News

Team Dover Airman frees passenger in vehicle rollover

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class William Johnson
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  What started off as a routine drive to work after a doctor's appointment, quickly turned into an opportunity to be a hero for Senior Airman Peter Cannizzaro, 9th Airlift Squadron loadmaster.

On Dec. 8, 2014 at around 10:30 a.m., Cannizzaro was driving on Delaware Route 9 towards Dover AFB when a car that was traveling in front of him ran off the road.

"I was driving about a mile behind the car on a long straight away when I saw it run off the road," said Cannizzaro. "The car had hit the inside shoulder and turned and rolled two times landing in a ditch."

When Cannizzario pulled up to the scene he got out of his car and found a man covered in mud and grass stains and a dog outside of the vehicle.

"It appeared the man and dog had been ejected from the vehicle when it rolled the first time" explained Cannizzario. "The man was in shock and un-able to recall what had just happened."

A vehicle that was traveling in front of Cannizzaro had also stopped and was able to secure the dog and convinced the confused driver to lie on the ground. It appeared to Cannizzaro the driver had suffered a broken collarbone in the crash.

It was at this time that the other person on the scene called 911 and Cannizzaro began to assess the female passenger who was still trapped inside the car underneath the passenger side dashboard.

"I did a quick assessment on the female passenger to look for any injuries," said Cannizzaro. "I determined that since she had no obvious neck or back injuries, she needed to be removed from the unstable vehicle which was also leaking fuel."

Cannizzaro then climbed up to where the windshield should be and removed the crumbled dashboard from around the passenger enabling her to stand on what was left of the passenger-side window. He then lifted her up and out of the vehicle through the driver-side window and sat her on the ground and covered her with a blanket until the paramedics arrived.

Captain Ryan Jensen, 9th AS assistant support flight commander, said it is not very often that Airmen find themselves as first responders in a community and he believes Cannizzaro acted exemplary in his efforts to assess and treat the people involved in the crash.

"Cannizzaro is a model Airman," said Jensen "I think it's great he was able to represent the Air Force to the Dover community by the actions he took that day."