‘HE SAVED ME’ — A passing motorist pulled Marie Stephanie Medina from her car after it was struck by the doomed tanker. (Freelance)
A guardian angel in the guise of a passing motorist saved Marie Stephanie Medina’s life today, yanking her from a howling highway gasoline inferno on the Long Island Expressway.
Medina, a Haitian immigrant who lost relatives in the recent earthquake, was breaking down between exits 48 and 49 on the LIE around 8 a.m. when a giant gasoline tanker came up behind her.
As it swerved to avoid Medina’s Dodge Neon, the tanker flipped on its side and burst into flames that shot 50 feet high.
Someone yanked Medina from her car. “He saved me. I kept thanking him, thousands and thousands of times,” recalled the 29-year-old Bayonne, NJ resident.
She was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital, and recuperated at her parents’ Farmingville home, where she plans to celebrate her 30th birthday today.
The unidentified driver, a male in his 50s from Brooklyn, was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
The intense fire burned an over head highway sign. The tanker was fully loaded with 12,000 gallons of gasoline, said police.
Fire crews spent three hours dousing the flames, which shut down part of the thoroughfare for much of the morning.