FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

The VICE Guide to Right Now

Watch Some Good Samaritans Save a Man from His Burning Car

The cellphone footage of a few men forming a human chain and hoisting the injured driver back up to safety is a tiny beacon of hope in our garbage world.

Video via the Palm Bay Police and Fire Departments' Facebook page

A woman captured the hectic moments following a car accident on Sunday when a few bystanders helped police rescue a man from his burning vehicle by forming a human chain, a local CBS affiliate reports.

The SUV reportedly drove over the steep seaside embankment after it rear-ended another vehicle in Palm Bay, Florida, on Sunday, turning the car over and leaving the driver strapped upside down as his car caught fire. Shortly after police and firemen arrived, Shannon Perez took out her cellphone and started recording the rescue. The video shows multiple people peering down into the embankment, some praying loudly, as law enforcement works to get the driver free.

"There he was up in the air, hanging still strapped into his seat belt, hanging sideways," witness Tom Sais told WKMG. Sais said police had to taser the driver twice after he refused their attempts to free him. Finally, police officers managed to get the man out of the car, but they struggled to get him up the side of the hill.

That's when a few men standing along the embankment sprang into action, descending the side of the hill—hand in hand—and forming a human chain down to the first responders. Footage shows the men hoisting the injured driver back up to the street as smoke billows from the vehicle behind them. According to the Palm Bay Police Department, the driver was then taken to a nearby hospital and treated for minor injuries.

Following the rescue, Perez told WKMG, "I think it's good that the police get, you know, some coverage of how they are heroic and they save lives, and I think that's amazing."