On April 10, 2016, Pelham Police Sergeant Derrick Pitts was the first officer on the scene of a two-vehicle crash. A Ford Taurus was wrecked on the side of Mize Street, and a black Cadillac Deville was off the road with flames coming from the engine compartment. Pitts said witnesses told him no one was in the white car, but they didn’t know about the Cadillac. He ran up to the burning car and yanked on doors, yelling to get the attention of any occupants. “The inside was full of smoke,” he recalled. “I couldn’t see nothing.” The heat from the flames drove him back, and he was about to decide the vehicle was empty when the horn started blowing. The officer returned to the car and yanked on the driver’s door handle again but it wouldn’t open. He tried other doors before he finally got the front passenger door open. The driver of the Cadillac was lying in the front seat, his feet against the driver’s door and his hands at the passenger’s door. Pitts pulled him out. Patrolman Earl Gilbert arrived about that time, and the two officers pulled the man farther from the burning car to an area of safety. The 47 year old driver of the Cadillac was taken to Archbold Memorial Hospital after the crash, a representative from the Georgia State Police said. Pitts said he’s spoken with the man since then. “He’s back at work,” Pitts said. “He was treated for some thermal burns and smoke inhalation.” On May 19, the Pelham City Council and the Pelham Police Department presented Sergeant Pitts with the Medal of Valor and Officer Gilbert with the Lifesaving Medal, according to posts on the police department’s Facebook page. Sergeant Pitts said helping people is the reason he got into law enforcement, and he credited his training with preparing him to deal with the unexpected situation. “We’re not trained to deal with fires,” he said, “but in the police academy they tried to make it as realistic as possible … so we just react, and that’s what I did.”