The rescue took place early Saturday morning when Officer Dakota Berry was returning to his duties in the nearby city of Goodyear after taking a suspect to a county jail.
Upon witnessing a two-vehicle crash on Interstate 10, Berry heard the car horn of the burning vehicle and realized someone was inside. He ran to his patrol car to retrieve a tool to break glass, crossed back to the woman's car, and used the tool to break the driver's side window.
"Get out, get out, get out," Berry said. The woman, whose hair was on fire, can be heard crying. The officer grabbed her legs and pulled her out through the broken window. She was taken in critical condition to a burn center and is expected to survive.
Berry, who attempted to extinguish the fire with his hands and eventually used a fire extinguisher, suffered a hand injury during the rescue.
The woman is the daughter of a Goodyear firefighter. "Ironically, I would have done the same for anyone else, any member of the community," Berry told reporters on Wednesday. After the woman was removed from the burning car, police say Berry placed flares on the highway to ensure there were no further collisions.