Hero saves victim from burning SUV

A Santa Rosa resident saved a man’s life on New Year’s Day by pulling him from a burning car north of Windsor, California Highway Patrol officials said Friday.

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Logan Sutherland, 22, came upon a Ford Explorer that had crashed into a concrete retaining wall on Old Redwood Highway at Eastside Road and caught fire about 1 a.m. Thursday morning, according to the CHP.

Sutherland saw a man behind the wheel going in and out of consciousness, officials said. Sutherland broke a back window in the Explorer, unlocked the doors and pulled the man from the burning vehicle just before the fire reached the passenger compartment.

Then the fire engulfed the vehicle, officials said. CHP Officer Jonathan Sloat said Sutherland was:

“… just a citizen that happened to be driving by. … He definitely saved that guy’s life.”

CHP officers identified the man as Healdsburg resident Dean Giorgi, 45. Giorgi had failed to stop at an intersection before he crashed the Explorer into the retaining wall.

Officers met with Giorgi after he was transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. They determined that he showed signs of intoxication and arrested him on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Giorgi has had his license suspended in the past for driving under the influence and has prior convictions for driving under the influence, CHP officials said. CHP Officers arrested nine people on suspicion of DIUs during the New Year’s Day holiday.