IRVINE : Driver Saves Baby After Collision

Dana Phelps saw the movie “Hero” last week. This week he became one.

Phelps was driving his Isuzu Trooper south on rain-slick Harvard Avenue early Tuesday evening with a friend when a BMW heading north suddenly hydroplaned and headed straight for them, according to police reports.

Police said the two vehicles collided head-on, igniting a fire under the hood of the BMW.

And that’s when Phelps heard the screams.

“After the accident, I heard the woman screaming about her baby,” said Phelps, 35, of Placentia.

Irvine Police Lt. Mike White said Phelps got out of his vehicle and reached the BMW as the fire began to spread to the rest of the car.

Phelps released the car’s safety belt from the baby seat and carried the infant to safety, according to White. Minutes later the car was engulfed in flames.

“The mother was unable to get the baby out,” White said. “(Phelps earned) a definite gold star for the day.”

Michele Rock, 28, of Irvine, the driver of the BMW, was even more impressed.

“He didn’t think twice about himself or his car,” she said. “He was just wonderful.”

Rock, who broke her foot in the collision, said that she doesn’t know how she would have been able to save her 5 1/2-month-old daughter, Lauren.

“I’ve got wounds from head to toe, but it could have been a lot worse,” she said.

“We just really, really want to thank him. . . . He’s a little angel of Placentia.”

But Phelps insists that it was no big deal.

“It’s nothing anyone else wouldn’t have done,” he said. “I was somewhat excited at the time.”

“I’m sure glad it didn’t happen on a highway,” Phelps added.

“I used to like the rain, but now I’m not so sure.”