For Craig Cook, it was a terrible sight.

A bent power pole, a horribly damaged car that had gone off the street and hit the pole, and a fire beginning to spread beneath the vehicle.

Then there was the survivor’s call for help.

“The car was really badly mangled,” said Cook, who was the first on the scene of a one-car collision on Lea Hill during the early morning hours of Feb. 2. “It was just burning. The only explosion I heard was the tires. But the driver didn’t have any problem reaching out to me. He reached out, and I sort of rolled him over and out. I dragged him to the other side of the street.”

Because of his quick-thinking actions, Cook saved a life that morning. Unfortunately, there was no pulling the passenger from the burning wreckage.

The horrific accident killed one Green River Community College student and seriously injured another. The King County Medical Examiner has identified the dead woman as Chengjing “Julie” Tan, 17. A KME spokesman said the teen died of blunt force trauma to the head and torso. Ying “Tim” Xie, the driver, survived the crash, thanks to Cook’s efforts.

Both young people were Chinese international students studying at GRCC, a half-mile away from the accident.

For his heroism, Cook received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Auburn Police Department and the “More than You Imagined” award from the City of Auburn on Monday evening.

On the City’s award are these words: “Presented to Craig Cook in honor of his heroic act of putting the victim of a horrific car cash before his own personal safety. Your swift action helped save a young man’s life. Your City honors you today for demonstrating that one person can make a difference in our community …”

It’s a night Craig and Colleen Cook will never forget.

The couple were asleep in their Lea Hill home shortly after 1 a.m. the background noise of traffic on nearby Southeast 320th Street drifting through an open window, when they were jolted awake by a loud concussion.

“What was that?” they asked each other. The deep, eerie silence that swallowed up that noise provided no answers, it only filled them with apprehension.

Cook ran outside in his bare feet to see what had happened. Looking over his fence and about four houses down to Southeast 320th, he saw the wreckage on the north side of the Street.

Plea for help

And he heard the voice of a young man calling out for help.

Cook hurried back to his house, told his wife to call 911, grabbed his shoes, hopped the fence and ran as fast as he could toward the accident. As he ran, he could hear the young man calling out.

Only after he had pulled Xie to safety did the injured driver begin to ask about the other occupant of the car, about Julie. Until that moment, Cook had no idea that anybody was still inside the burning vehicle. No sounds, no screams, no movements of any kind he said.

Cook was horrified. A grim prayer for the young woman passed through his mind.

“I could only pray that she was dead on impact, because by that time, the car was totally engulfed in flames,” Cook said. “My first thought was the fact that I didn’t hear any voices or screams, and that made it a bit easier. It would have been horrible if she had been alive and screaming in that burning car.”

Police and firefighters arrived within minutes.

King County Medic One transported Xie in critical condition to Harborview Medical Center, where he underwent surgery. Doctors had to amputate his left foot. The accident broke several bones in his legs

“Apparently, they were able to save one of his feet, but his lower extremities were badly burned trying to get himself out of the car,” Cook said.

Investigators concluded that Xie had been speeding east on Southeast 320th, went airborne on a rise in the road, lost control and slammed the vehicle into the power pole. The posted speed is 35 miles per hour.

Auburn Police Commander Mike Hirman said it is too early to tell whether alcohol played a role in the accident.

Cook said that stretch of road is particularly dangerous, and that people speed on it all the time.

“I know when I was a teenager I did a lot of crazy things,” Cook said. “We all make bad decisions, but unfortunately, this one cost a young woman her life.”

The accident knocked out power to about 7,000 residents in a large swath of Lea Hill and parts of north Auburn.

Cook’s comment upon receiving the award was to advise the City to install a traffic light there.