3 Officers Pull Driver From Burning Truck

Police climbed aboard a blazing tractor truck in Boyle Heights on Tuesday to save a disoriented driver from the flames.

While at least 15 officers backed away from the truck, fearing an explosion, two others--Det. Mike Falvo and Officer Jerry Morales--climbed through the flames at the rear of the cab and pulled the driver to safety. A third officer, Det. Tim Neel, also aided in the rescue.

The driver, Roy Anthony Cleland, 51, was treated for smoke inhalation. He suffered no burns, authorities said.

Police said the incident started at 11:40 a.m., when Cleland lost control of his truck, which was used to haul large trailers, because of a diabetic condition.

He ran a red light; hit three other cars; knocked down a traffic signal, sending debris onto a pregnant woman; hit five more cars, and blew a tire along a two-mile stretch of Olympic Boulevard and Boyle Avenue.

His truck caught on fire and came to a crashing stop at Boyle Avenue and Bridge Street.

Falvo and his partner, Det. D.W. Fields, were on another investigation when they heard the call on their radio. Neel was at his desk in the Hollenbeck station when he heard the call for help.

Neel--wearing a suit--Falvo and Morales tunneled through the black smoke, feeling for the driver.

Finally, Cleland stood up and Falvo and Morales pulled him to safety.

Cleland was staggering and semiconscious with medication and a candy bar in his front pocket--the first sign to officers that he might have been suffering from a diabetic reaction.

The pedestrian who was hit by the traffic light, Priscilla Marie Ruiz, 24, was in stable condition at White Memorial Medical Center.