Man bends locked car door, saves motorist from burning SUV

Robert Renning of Woodbury, Minn., is a real-life superhero.

In an effort to save a man's life, the 52-year-old bent a locked car door in half to help remove a stranger from a burning SUV, KARE-TV reports.

"I don't think I did anything different than anyone else would have done had they gotten into the car ahead of me. That's just my take," Renning told KARE. "I helped him out of the car. That's good enough."

Renning, who serves as first sergeant in the Minnesota Air National Guard, said he grabbed hold of the top of the door, and leveraged his foot to yank it loose on Sunday evening. Meanwhile, he said the driver of the SUV, Michael Johannes, was "doing all he could from the inside" of the vehicle.

"[Johannes] was not panicked in any shape or form," Renning told USA TODAY Network. "I don't doubt he was scared. He was trying to do all the right things." It was a joint effort, Renning added.

Johannes said he had pulled over to the side of the road when he saw smoke and his speedometer hit zero. He had recently purchased a used 2006 Chevy Trailblazer. Johannes suffered minor smoke inhalation and light cuts from being pulled through a shattered window. Renning was not harmed.

Johannes told KARE he was very grateful for the selfless act. "Someone risked their own life to save mine, that's all I can really say, that is the emotional part," he said.

The Minnesota State Patrol also praised the Good Samaritan's actions.

"He did an extraordinary deed, bending a locked car door in half of a burning car to extricate a trapped person," Trooper Zachary Hill, who responded to the scene, told KARE. "I feel this man deserves any and all commendation for his extraordinary life-saving measure that kept another from burning alive."

But Renning remained humble through the ordeal. "Somebody was in trouble. You are supposed to help each other out," he said.

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