Story Created:
Feb 21, 2007 at 3:38 PM EST
Story Updated:
Feb 21, 2007 at 3:38 PM EST
He’s being praised as a hero and a western Wisconsin police officer knows he's lucky to be alive. Prescott officer Ben Henrich survived an explosion that killed a woman. The frightening moments are captured on tape.
“I just thought, I'm dead,” says Henrich. Officer Ben Henrich watches his squad car video from Saturday night, and can't believe he's alive.
“There probably isn't a reason I shouldn't be dead right now,” says Henrich.
The explosion that killed 39 year old Lisa Villigan happened just a three and a half minutes after she crashed her pickup truck into the utility room of this Prescott house, hitting a natural gas line. Henrich raced to the house, evacuated the homeowners, then rushed to Villigan who he says was disoriented and didn't respond as he begged her to get out.
“Again I asked her if she was okay, and I told her there was gas. All the while I could hear the sound of gas hissing under the car,” Henrich comments.
Before Henrich could break the truck's window and pull Villigan out, he felt the blast. One he says may have been caused by Villigan trying to start her truck and back out. Henrich was just three feet from the house and another officer had to help him to safety.
“Everything went black, and after a few minutes I opened my eyes and I knew I was still alive.”
Henrich suffered burns, cuts and whiplash. injuries you can see just after the blast, and still today. Villigan was dead at the scene, and relatives are remembering her as a hard worker who was rebuilding her life after a tough divorce.
Police are focused on why the crash happened, asking three questions: Was there a mechanical failure in Villigan's truck? Was she intoxicated? And was someone else involved especially a vehicle that may have witnessed the blast.
The police say they're currently investigating reports of a black SUV, which was seen leaving the scene of the accident.
Henrich says he only wishes he could have saved Villigan, that her life would have been spared along with his.
