Actor Danny Trejo isn't known for playing firefighters on TV or in the movies. But he played the role in real life Wednesday, rescuing a special-needs child who was trapped in an overturned car following a collision at a Los Angeles intersection.
Trejo, who has appeared in films such as "Desperado," "From Dusk Till Dawn," "Heat" and "Machete," witnessed a two-car collision in the neighborhood of Sylmar, KABC-TV reports. The crash overturned one of the vehicles, trapping the young boy, who was strapped in his car seat.
Accompanied by another bystander, Trejo tried to rescue the child from the wreckage, but he was unable to unbuckle the boy's car seat. The other bystander then crawled into the wreckage from the other side and was able to unbuckle the seat, allowing Trejo to pull the boy out.
When firefighters arrived, they worked to extract the boy's grandmother, who was still trapped in the driver's seat, according to KABC. While the firefighters worked, Trejo, who works with special-needs kids, entertained and distracted the boy.
"He was panicked. I said OK, we have to use our superpowers," the actor told KABC. "So he screamed, 'Superpowers,' and we started yelling, 'Superpowers!' … We got kind of a bond. I kept facing him away from the accident."
Three people were taken to the hospital, but the fire department said their injuries were not life-threatening. Trejo, 75, credits the car seat with doing its job.
"Pay attention," he told KABC. "And the only thing that saved that little kid was his car seat, honest to God.
