A DETECTIVE from Great Sankey risked his own life to save a woman who was trapped inside a burning car.

Former St Gregory’s Catholic High School pupil Chris Godby, who moved from Warrington to America at the age of 21, has been recognised for his role in saving a woman’s life while working for Grand Prairie Police in Texas.

Warrington Guardian:

PICTURE: The crash scene, inset, Chris Godby 

The 31-year-old, who returned to Warrington earlier this year to visit his family, has been named as one of the officers of the month by the force after pulling the unconscious woman through the window of the car as flames engulfed the vehicle.

The driver had crashed into a gas line and telephone pole just before 12pm on September 14.

“I didn’t really have any time to react to it because I get out of my car and I can smell gas,” he said.

“The reality is you have a second to make a decision on what you’re going to do.

“And I see one of my guys trying to get her out of the car and he can’t get her out of the car, so my first reaction was to go and pull her away from the car and get away from it myself as soon as possible.

“But unfortunately her leg got stuck in the steering wheel, so it took us a little bit of time to get her out. And I’m not sure if you can tell from the video but the vehicle kind of explodes within 10 seconds of pulling her out.”

Video footage of the incident shows the officers dragging the unconscious woman out through the window of the car to get her away from the flames.

Dad-of-two Chris, who has previously appeared on the TV series Cops in America, said he would risk his life again to ‘protect and serve’ those in need.

“It’s always an honour to get any kind of award, but I feel like there’s police officers across the United States and across the world that are doing things like this on a daily basis, and we don’t do these things for the awards,” said Chris, who was promoted to the rank of detective in January 2016.

“We all took the same pledge to protect and serve, and if I was put in that situation again I’d do the exact same thing, knowing that the car could probably explode.

“It’s nice to be recognised.”

The officers will receive the ‘lifesaving bar’ for their heroic efforts.