Off-Duty Firefighter Saves Driver after Crash in Queens

NY Post – October 15, 2014

by Shawn Cohen

A real-estate agent flipped his Mercedes on a Queens highway — but was saved from certain death by an off-duty firefighter who happened upon the crash on his way to work, the lucky victim’s family said Tuesday.

Kevin Mohr, assigned to Ladder 138 in Corona, saw a car in flames on the Clearview Expressway Sunday morning and rushed over to the wreckage, where fire was spreading from the engine.

Steven Kokotos, 49, was still strapped in upside-down, bleeding from his head and gasping for air while crying, “Help, Help!”

“The fire was in the engine, getting progressively worse, so we needed to get him out,” said Mohr, 29, who was joined by several motorists, including another off-duty firefighter from Brooklyn, John Riha.

“We were able, all of us, to pick the car up and flip it on its side,” Mohr added.

Kokotos broke several bones and also injured his head.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s any permanent damage to his head,” wife Cathy Kokotos told The Post on Tuesday.

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