It was just after midnight in Highland Falls, New York. Oddly, the dark quiet of Route 9W gave way to sparks and fire. A white sedan had slammed into a utility pole, leaving live wires crackling in the road. The driver sat inside, dazed and trapped. Flames sparked and licked closer. That was when 20-year-old Army football player and West Point cadet Larry Pickett Jr. sprinted toward the wreck.

Pickett, a Raleigh, North Carolina native and former Enloe High School standout, had been driving with his father, Larry Pickett Sr., when they came upon the scene early Saturday morning.

Without hesitation, the pair rushed forward.

Video captured by Pickett’s sister showed the two pulling the man from the smoking sedan while sparks showered around them

A woman can be heard shouting, urging them to hurry as the heat intensified.

Pickett said he acted on instinct, not calculation. He remembered the driver being badly disoriented and unable to leave the vehicle on his own.

The two men dragged him away from the wreck just as the danger escalated. First responders soon arrived to take over, but the moment that mattered most had already passed.

The rescue happened less than a day after the Army’s season opener, a double-overtime loss to Tarleton State.

Pickett, who plays safety for the Army Black Knights, downplayed the heroics

He explained that for him, the act felt less like an accomplishment and more like what anyone should do when faced with someone in need. He tied his response to the ethos of West Point and the Army itself, where duty and service stand at the core of training.

Officials at the academy praised him, along with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who said Pickett embodied duty, honor, and country. West Point’s athletic director added that the cadet and his father displayed the leadership and courage the school works to instill.

The driver’s condition has not been released, ABC11 shared. But thanks to quick thinking and fast action, he is alive today.