The college football player and his father played life-saving weekends as his family drove in upstate New York on the remains of a fiery car.
According to a video posted to social media by his father, Larry Pickett Jr., the US military academy soccer team safe, and his father, pulled a man out of his car while the flames were burning a white sedan. Larry Pickett Sr. believed his son made a save in a save in an Instagram post, but it seemed they both carried the man.
“I was awe-inspiring as my son, Larry Pickett Jr., drove towards the burning vehicle just after midnight and ignoring the crackling noise around it,” he wrote Sunday. “With immeasurable courage, he pulled the man safely towards him and saved him from his fiery fate.”
The Fort Montgomery Fire Station posted an image of the scene on Facebook on Sunday, saying the car responded to an accident where it “hitting a utility pole and was completely engulfed in flames.”
The family was back in West Point after a family dinner in New York City on Saturday night, according to the Associated Press. They were in town and saw the first Army football game of the season, a loss against Talton State.
A video shared by the family shows the car crashing into a tree on the side of the road. A thin wooden stick, perhaps a utility pole, appeared to have crushed the top of the car.
The video picked up as two men pulled the man out of the driver’s seat into a white car. One takes the man’s leg, the other grabs the under arm.
“Larry, come on, let him out,” the woman says in the video.
One of the two men then ran into the street, trying to stop the other cars from passing through, warning the fallen power line.
The driver was conscious later in the video as the man asked him a question. He said he hadn’t taken any alcohol or medication before the crash. He also looked misguided with distrust that the crashed car was his.
“I was driving normally, a sudden boom, I’m here,” the driver said.
Later in the video, Larry Pickett Jr. says there was someone on the side of the road when the family stopped, but he thinks he won’t get close due to power lines. He added that he is grateful that they were able to get him out of the car.
“It could be completely different for him,” he said. “So I’m honestly grateful. That could have been a really bad thing for him and his family.”
Larry Pickett Sr. praised the Military Academy for his son’s act of courage.
“This is more than an exhibition of leadership. It’s a testament to the character West Point is building within him. He’s ready to enter the fire line, not just for his country, but for those who need it,” he wrote.
The school shared the post on social media and praised the cadet for his quick thinking that night. The Academy said it was proud of his “heroic actions.”
“Running towards danger to save lives is an embodied version of the Army’s values and the warrior’s spirit,” Post said.
Director Jeff Monken wrote in X’s post that his actions embodied “courage, selflessness, and willingness to put others in front of him.”
“In that critical moment, he didn’t think about himself, he only thought about helping others in need,” Monken wrote. “We are extremely proud of the way Larry represented his family, our Army Soccer Brotherhood and the values of West Point.”
