No other option: Community members rally to pull Northport woman from burning car

Northport resident Tempestt Harris-Buckner was rescued from a burning vehicle yesterday evening, after striking a utility pole on Bread and Cheese Hollow Road, just north of Pulaski Road. Harris-Buckner was pulled from the car by Northport High School Orchestra Director Michael Susinno and John McPartland. A third good Samaritan, Mike Pitre of Commack, joined the men in their efforts to help Harris-Buckner, using a belt to create a tourniquet on the woman’s leg.

According to reports, Harris-Buckner was driving a 2021 Hyundai Elantra north on Bread and Cheese Hollow Road in Fort Salonga when she swerved to avoid a squirrel in the road shortly before 6pm yesterday, June 23. The Hyundai struck a utility pole, trapping Harris-Buckner in the driver’s seat moments before the pole and vehicle caught fire. 

A former teacher at Wee Luv‘em Child Care at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Northport, and program manager at VA Kids Care, Harris-Buckner, 33, along with her twin brother Storm, are Northport High School graduates.

Sussino recognized their connection while holding Harris-Buckner’s hands in the aftermath of the accident. According to Pitre, Harris-Buckner’s right leg was visibly broken, with a large laceration that was bleeding. The seatbelt and airbag had done additional damage to her upper body. 

“I know you, I know you, I was your teacher, you played the cello,” Susinno said to Harris-Buckner after he asked her name. Susinno wanted to keep her talking, “because she was so distraught,” and things were still chaotic, he said. “And the second time she said her name, I thought, ‘Wait a second, this can’t be.’ You don’t forget twins named Tempestt and Storm who both play the cello.” 

While holding her hand, Susinno told Tempestt, “I don’t know if you remember me, but I know you and your brother Storm and your whole family.” He first met Tempestt some 20 years ago. Yesterday evening, he stayed by her side until first responders arrived on the scene. 

The moments before…
Just before the accident, Sussino, who lives in Kings Park, was driving home from playing violin in the Gilbert and Sullivan production of “Iolanthe” at the Star Playhouse in Commack. “I would never have been on that road at that time,” Susinno said. While stopped at the red light just south of Pulaski, he could see that a small black car had struck a utility pole across the road. He called 9-1-1. 

When the light turned green, Susinno drove across Pulaski and could see a woman, the driver of the car behind Harris-Buckner, and the only person to witness the accident, frantically calling for help from the side of the road. He could tell someone was still in the car. While on the 9-1-1 call, Sussino saw the hood of the Hyundai catch fire. He knew he had to help. 

“At that moment, I noticed there was a man who appeared seemingly out of nowhere standing next to me, and I looked at him and said ‘We have to get her out, the car’s on fire, the flames are getting higher.’” 

John McPartland had run down a driveway after hearing the crash and seeing the smoke from the Bread and Cheese Hollow residence. Wearing flip flops, he fell on his way to the street “but he kept going anyway,” Susinno said. “And it’s a good thing, because I couldn’t have pulled her out myself.”

The steering column had pinned Harris-Buckner down, and her leg looked badly broken, Susinno said. She told the men she was in pain and was having trouble breathing. The men, knowing time was limited due to the fire, maneuvered Harris-Buckner out of the car and began to move her away from the accident site when Pitre, driving south on Bread and Cheese Hollow Road, saw the scene, pulled to the side of the street, and ran to help. Together, the three men dragged Harris-Buckner to the west side of the road, away from the crash. It was a matter of seconds, Susinno and Pitre said, before the car was engulfed in flames.

“There was no other option. We couldn't leave her in the car,” Susinno said. “The hood was on fire when we pulled her out, the whole car was on fire when we got her across the street.” 

“It escalated quickly. There was just no time,” Pitre said, describing flames that reached halfway up the utility pole, the car doors popping off and some of its tires exploding. The three men moved Harris-Buckner again, even further away from the heat and flames. 

It was then that Susinno and two women, now also on the scene, tried to keep Harris-Buckner speaking. When the sirens from the responding police officers and paramedics neared, the women covered Harris-Buckner’s ears “because it was deafening, and the heat of the flames was so intense,” Susinno said. By that time Pitre, a medical malpractice defense litigator on his way home from a round of nine with his dad at the Northport VA golf course, applied a tourniquet – a gray canvas belt – to the top of Harris-Buckner’s leg.

“She had a very severe laceration just below the knee extending almost down to the ankle,” Pitre said. He immediately began to assess the injury. It was a large wound and so open, he said, “I knew a tourniquet was the best option, at least short-term, before EMS arrived.”

Harris-Buckner was transported via ambulance to Stony Brook University Hospital, where she is being treated for her injuries.

“You only have seconds”
Pitre made an important observation at the scene, which he shared with the Journal in a conversation earlier today. “Noone pulled their phone out to video or take pictures. Everyone was attentive, paying attention to Tempestt, and that was the most important thing, making sure she was ok,” he said. He attributed Susinno and McPartland’s actions and quick thinking to saving Tempestt’s life in that moment – “without a doubt,” he said.

“I think we were just the people that were there and we made the decision not to stand by and do nothing,” Susinno said. Still emotional from the experience, he hopes everyone would do what he and the other men did in similar circumstances.  

“I would encourage anyone if they find themself in that situation, you see someone who is clearly trapped and the vehicle is on fire, don’t stop, don’t wait, don’t think about it, just move in as quickly as you can because you only have seconds,” he said. 

“In a situation like that, it really is life or death,” Pitre said. “This was not a situation where you could wait.”

“In this world, there’s a lot of bad you hear about in the news, but there’s also a lot of good out there,” Pitre continued. “It really does, I think, speak volumes to the community we live in and the people around us, that there are good people out there. When you’re faced with a situation like that, don’t think about it. Just respond and do what you would want to have done for you in that situation.”

“I’m just so grateful that she is still with us,” Susinno said of Tempestt. “It was a very close call. I’m hoping that people will take comfort in a story like this because there still are so many people who run and help when others are in need.”