Teen-Agers Pull Couple From Burning Car After Crash

The radio was still blaring in the Porsche that was on fire when eight teen-agers, riding in two different cars, spotted the flames and stopped.

They assumed that the passengers already had escaped, police said, but quickly discovered that a man and woman were trapped inside as flames licked at the car seats.

Newport Beach police said Sunday that the quick action of the teen-agers may have saved the lives Marvin N. Greenwood, 32, of Irvine and his 25-year-old companion, Jan Glazer, of Newport Beach.

According to police, Greenwood was driving his late-model Porsche west on Ford Road at a “high rate of speed” at 11:56 p.m. when he lost control of the car and it bounced off a raised center divider and hit a utility pole near MacArthur Boulevard, catching fire.

Driving by in one car shortly after the accident were Corona del Mar High School seniors Mike Hastings and Jacqueline Heap, who said they pulled to the side of the road when they saw the car was on fire.

Seeing people still inside the car, Hastings said, he tried to pull the driver’s door open, but it was jammed shut against a curb. Next he tried to pull Greenwood through the window, but that, too, failed.

“He was too heavy,” said Heap. “We did our best though.”

Eventually, the pair managed to get the door open and dragged Greenwood out. They said the driver was able to stand, but appeared dazed or in shock.

Just as a second car pulled up, the burning Porsche emitted a loud hiss, Hastings said. While the six newly arrived teen-agers jumped out of their car and ran over to help, Hastings and Heap drove to her house to call the 911 emergency number.

With the flames were reaching into the front of the Porsche, the youths pulled Glazer, unconscious and apparently without a pulse, from the passenger seat. Sam Moslehi, 19, of Lake Forest, a Saddleback College student and aspiring dentist, said he propped up Glazer’s head, hoping to clear her air passage and she began breathing.

Glazer was taken to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, where she was reported in stable condition Sunday with a head concussion.

Greenwood, the driver of the car, did not require hospitalization and was arrested on suspicion of felony drunk driving, according to Newport Beach police Sgt. Joe Lambert.

Moslehi, a student at Saddleback College who hopes to become a dentist, suffered a second-degree burn on his hand.

Perhaps the most heroic move at the crash scene, Moslehi said, was made by a man in a truck, who agreed to park his vehicle between the teen-agers and the Porsche--in the event it exploded.

“At the time it didn’t seem like any big deal,” Moslehi said Sunday. “I can’t believe he did that now.”