It was close to midnight on Dec. 13, 2019, when 47-year-old ironworker Scott McFarland heard a car violently crash into a tree in the backyard of his Beaverton, Michigan, home. McFarland rushed to the van, where he saw a 9-year-old boy exiting through a broken-out rear window opening. McFarland helped the boy from the van and then heard screams coming from inside. McFarland leaned into the van through the window, unlatched the seat belt securing 11-year-old Grant A. Smith, and attempted to pull him to safety, but his legs were trapped beneath the driver’s seat. While Grant’s legs burned, McFarland repeatedly pulled on them until he jerked them free. He then pulled Grant from the car. Grant suffered a neck injury and broke both arms in the crash; he also sustained severe burns. McFarland was treated at a hospital for burns to both hands and recovered.
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