Man pulls woman from burning car

Jen Lawson

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

A 19-year-old woman whose speeding car flew up and over a 50-foot embankment off the Las Vegas Beltway this morning was pulled from the car by a nearby resident moments before it caught fire, a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper said.

Trooper Ray Pendenza said Chelsea Barnard had just left her boyfriend's house and was talking to him on a cell phone while driving home, heading south on the beltway, when she lost control near the Lone Mountain Road exit.

She was going about 80 mph in a Hyundai Accent when she veered across all of the lanes and up the dirt embankment, the trooper said.

Barnard's car went over the embankment and landed on the other side on its roof, Pendenza said. The car began to smolder.

"Right at this moment a citizen who lives there hears her screaming," he said.

Roderick Spenner, a military officer who had just arrived home from work, climbed a chain link fence and pulled Barnard from the car as the flames began to spread.

Barnard suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

"Two things saved her life," Pendenza said. "Her seatbelt and Mr. Spenner."

Alcohol is not believed to be a factor, he said. Barnard was cited for speeding and other traffic offenses.

The stretch of road where the crash occurred is the newest leg of the Las Vegas Beltway. It was completed in November.

Trooper Angie Wolff said last year 9 percent of Southern Nevada's 12,159 crashes happened on the Las Vegas Beltway. Most of the crashes occurred at intersections, she said.