Twinsburg, Ohio police officer acts quickly to rescue child from rollover crash on I-480

TWINSBURG, Ohio (WOIO) - Yamil Encarnacion, a Twinsburg police officer, earned praise from his superiors after he crawled into an overturned car to rescue a small child that was pinned inside and strapped to a child safety seat.

Officer Encarnacion rescued Emma Jameson’s four-year-old daughter who was trapped inside her totaled car. Police say when they noticed the little girls’ legs were losing color, officer Encarnacion jumped into action, crawling into the wreckage, and cutting the child’s safety seat free and getting her out from the car.

“Everything from there was just so fast,” said Jameson. “I remember seeing the one officer carrying my daughter and the car seat and then he went back for my son and there was just blood all over his arms.”

It all happened Saturday. The Portage County mother tells me she was driving to the bank with her three kids. She told police she was trying to pass a slow-moving car on her left and as she changed lanes a car in front of her also moved into the left lane. She said the driver of that car suddenly applied the brakes causing her to apply her brakes. She said she overcorrected, and her car left the road and rolled over, ending up in the eastbound lanes of 480. Jameson says it’s all blur, but as soon as she came to all she could think about was her kids.

“Immediately my children, how do I get them out? How do I make sure everybody’s okay, I heard them all screaming so I knew none of them were dead,” Jameson recalled.

The mother says some good Samaritans immediately came to her aid and police arrived almost instantly.

“Somebody ripped open my door and by the time he had done that I had already gotten one kid out of the car seat and I was holding him and I got out went to go put him down and turn around to get my other kids out and there were already men in there trying to get them out.”

After Officer Encarnacion rescued her 4-year-old daughter, he went back to get her son out.

“It was very scary,” Jameson said. “I don’t know. I owe that officer my life.”

Jameson said her youngest son escaped the crash with some minor bruising. Her daughter got a few x-rays but has no broken bones, her other son has a small scrape on his head, and she has a rush and some minor scrapes.

“Relieved, still scared to get behind the wheel of a vehicle, but very relieved and grateful that we’re all okay from that,” the mother said. “People keep telling me that we shouldn’t have lived.”

Jameson said her daughter is still very shaken up from the ordeal, but thankfully all her kids are okay. She says she will never forget that officer or what he did for her and her family.

“This is why I am honored to work with the best police officers and staff in the world,” said Twinsburg Police Chief Christopher Noga.

Watch the bodycam video of the rescue here, on the Twinsburg Police Department Facebook page.

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