Long Island man pulled from burning BMW, another called dead on site, thank their rescuers for the first time

New York Post

26-05-2025

Alexander Wisniewski experienced the worst day of his life in Jan. 2024.
The now 19-year-old Commack resident was excited to be driving a tricked-out purple BMW M5 Competition on the windy and isolated Old Commack Road just before the car spun out into a tree and burst into 'six-foot-high' flames.
'I was stuck in the car unconscious. I had severe brain trauma and bleeding,' Wisniewski, a star soccer player who was training with German Bundesliga clubs, told The Post.
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4 Alex Wisniewski and Michael Mancino at South Shore University Hospital's 'EMS Heroes Night' in East Islip, N.Y., 2025, honoring resilient EMS workers.
Angelina Katsanis
'Realistically, I shouldn't be alive or doing as good as I am…I'm about 90% back to normal now,' Wisniewski, who goes by Olek, added.
The difference between life and death for him was the rapid responding paramedic Michael Mancino and two good Samaritan sanitation workers driving by.
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'I grabbed my fire extinguisher, and they also had one, and we were able to knock the flames back long enough for the fire department to get there and cut him out of the car with the jaws of life,' Mancino said.
'I didn't think he was going to even survive that. The car was in three pieces,' Mancino, 29, said.
For the first time, Wisniewski, who was treated at South Shore University Hospital, had the opportunity to give his rescuer proper recognition at Northwell's EMS Heroes Night, which honored Mancino and others last week.
4 Anthony Dees, 33, of Central Islip has no recollection of the motorcycle crash that almost took his life on Fifth Avenue in Bay Shore last June.
Angelina Katsanis
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The two shared a heartfelt moment inside East Islip's Irish Coffee Pub as an emotional Wisniewski, now well enough to play club soccer at Florida Atlantic University in the fall, worked up the words 'thank you' to Mancino.
'I remember hearing about a week or two after the accident that he was going to be alright,' Mancino recalled.
'It felt great because in EMS, we don't get a lot of calls this severe that have a good outcome…those two workers also deserve a thank you.'
In the aftermath, Wisniewski had to retrain his body how to walk, move his left arm, speak, and several other mechanics that most take for granted.
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4 'People were saying I was dead on the scene,' Dees said of being struck by a vehicle turning out of a doctors office.
Angelina Katsanis
'It's been a long past few months, but I owe Michael and the others my entire life,' Wisniewski said. 'They were God's angels that day.'
He has made substantial improvements in the past year and a half, where the miracle survivor almost feels 'back to normal.'
'When we're able to see somebody, months later, walk in and tell us that they're going back to their quality of life because of the profound impact health care had on them, there is no prouder moment for anyone,' said Irene Macyk, the president of South Shore.
Now, Wisniewski looks forward to the future and returning to the soccer field.
'I can't wait to score my first goal after this,' he said.
'Dead on the scene'
Anthony Dees, 33, of Central Islip has no recollection of the motorcycle crash that almost took his life on Fifth Avenue in Bay Shore last June.
'People were saying I was dead on the scene,' Dees said of being struck by a vehicle turning out of a doctors office.
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'My spleen ruptured, my femur broke in half, my hip broke off too, my elbow went through my skin, my left I broke four ribs, my lungs collapsed — both of them — and I'm down to one kidney and had brain trauma.
4 'Realistically, I shouldn't be alive or doing as good as I am…I'm about 90% back to normal now,' Wisniewski said.
Angelina Katsanis
Through what was an absolute nightmare of year, however, Dees is now able to walk with a cane and sometimes without after perseverance through physical therapy and the support of loved ones.
'I had a lot of people come visit me at the hospital — supposedly 250. It gave me a big heart,' Dees, who also needed 10 pints of blood after the crash, added.
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'Mentally, I'm ready to go back to work as a mechanic now. I'm just waiting on my body.'
Dees, who teared up entering the catering hall, opened his heart to the Bay Shore EMS crew that gave him a second chance at life. Bay Shore EMS declined to comment.
'I need them to just know I appreciate everything they did to save my life, and I want them to keep up the good work,' he said.
'I gave them a really big hug. I really wanted to cry and say thank you so much. If I could get down my knees, I would and thank them.'