ANDERSON — Anderson Police Officer Joe Todd is being credited with rescuing a woman from a burning home after she resisted efforts to come out.
According to the Anderson Police Department, the fire broke out late Sunday in the house on West 8th Street, on the outskirts of downtown.
Officer Todd was patrolling the area when he saw the house on fire and a 59-year-old woman standing on the front porch. When Todd approached the woman to see if anyone else was inside, she ran back inside, even though the entire front of the house was in flames. Police described the woman, who lived at the house, as being "distraught."
Todd ran into the house and gathered the woman by both arms and moved her from the house and out onto the front porch, before successfully getting her to the yard, away from the fire. There, she continued to struggle against the officer, trying to get free and back into the house.
Additional officers arrived and helped Todd secure the woman in a patrol car, before she was taken to a hospital for medical treatment and evaluation.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
