Chris Wilson: A Hero’s Story
Undated photo of Chris Wilson courtesy of Chris Wilson Facebook
BY CLYDE HUGHES | AC JosepH Media
ATLANTIC CITY – As Vineland community advocate Chris Wilson tells it, he wasn’t even supposed to be there.
Wilson was traveling from Vineland to Atlantic City for a dinner reservation. The GPS tracker mysteriously took him there via Black Horse Pike instead of usual direction.
That quirk in Wilson’s travel plans on July 26 brought him upon a fiery multiple-vehicle accident, where he rushed out to save several endangered lives, later finding himself being called a “hero.”
For Wilson, who is still receiving treatment for injuries he sustained while on the scene, that entire moment was absolutely surreal.
There were others who acted heroically that day, in a moment when there was little time to think about the potential danger. This is Wilson’s “hero story,” even though he remains uncomfortable with the term.
Tragic Results From the Accident
The details of the accident are tragic. A head-on collision on the always-bustling Black Horse Pike — one of the main arteries in and out of Atlantic City — set two vehicles in flames. Escarlin Suriel, 21, who was eight months pregnant, died at the scene. Her husband, who was in the vehicle with her, survived the fiery crash. Gabriella Constrantino, 22, died of her injuries in the other vehicle, while her three passengers sustained serious injuries.
Wilson said when he came upon backed up traffic, he had no idea there was an accident and continued to drive around the slowing vehicles to arrive on time to his reservation.
“I looked to the right out of my passenger window, and I saw it was an accident,” Wilson recalled from the event to Front Runner New Jersey.com recently. “I thought it was somebody maybe getting a ticket or something, but it was an accident, and the car was on fire.”
Wilson said he still cannot explain what happened next. He pulled his car off to the side and ran to the burning vehicle. He said one man was using a sledgehammer to break open the driver’s side window.
Once they got the door open, they reached in, but no one was on that side of the car; the force of the accident slammed everyone to the passenger’s side.
Saving the Victims
“I circled around the car and that’s where all four people in the car were,” Wilson said. “The driver was in the back seat and there was a kid crushed in the front passenger side on the floor. His whole entire body was on the floor in between the seat where you rest your legs.”
One of the thoughts Wilson said that overwhelmed him was extracting the first victim, identified by authorities as Constrantino.
“We were able to pull her out, but I watched her take her last breath,” Wilson said, pausing to hold back his own overwhelming emotions in retelling the account.
But mourning would have to come later. The flames were getting more intense as they started to encroach on the area of the other trapped passengers. Fears of the vehicle exploding became more real as seconds started to feel like hours as Wilson and others frantically fought to free the other passengers in the vehicle — yet it felt like time was against them.
They managed to pull two more victims out of the vehicle, with one remaining young boy trapped on the front seat floor, later identified as teen Kenneth Jones. Wilson said he and another man tried to tug the seat to get him out but it would not budge.
“By this time, the flames were hitting us and the smoke was hitting us,” Wilson said. “It was very hot. So [the other Good Samaritan] backed up. By this time, my entire face was black from the smoke.”
One Last Chance
Coughing from smoke inhalation, Wilson said he yelled out for help. One man stepped next to him for one last desperate try.
“He was big and tall,” Wilson said. “He was like Paul Bunyan. He came to the side of me and hooked the trapped boy under his right armpit. I took him under the left armpit and we were able to pop him right out. The lower half of his body was crushed.”
Just then, they started hearing fire pops from the car, motivating them to quickly flee from the scene. Wilson suffered smoke inhalation and injured his left leg while trying to pull the victims free, resulting in hospitalization.
Miraculously, Wilson walked away with neither burns nor broken bones, but he required physical therapy for his leg injury.
A Grateful Mother
Charlene Jones, the mother of teen Kenneth Jones, said her son and two other young relatives pulled from the vehicle are all recuperating. One is still hospitalized. Holding back tears, she said no one would probably be alive today without the doggedly determined effort of Wilson and the other rescuer, she called Mr. Davis.
“The blessing of it all is that they all are alive, but we did lose one person, (in this vehicle),” Charlene Jones remarked. “I can’t even describe Chris’s actions. I’m in tears even talking about it again. If it wasn’t for him and Mr. Davis, none of them would be here. My son was the last one to get out before the car went up in flames.”
Wilson has been called a hero by many in the community for his actions.
“I don’t feel like I’m a hero,” Wilson said. “It’s kind of a little overwhelming to hear that, to be honest with you. I just reacted. I don’t even know why. I just reacted. I was not thinking I was going to be faced with that situation that day.
“It feels very, very humbling and I’m not necessarily deserving of it, because I was just, you know, doing what my instinct told me to do.”
‘He Can’t fight’ Hero Tag
Others have not been so shy in calling Wilson a “hero.”
“We are a very loving family and they made all the difference in the world,” Charlene Jones said. “God sent them to that spot that day. He was a true, live hero. He can’t even talk that down. For my family, he’s a hero. It’s part of his title right now. He can’t fight it.”
Vineland native Jessica Gonzalez Martinez, who lives in Absecon, witnessed Wilson join others that day.
“Chris is a hero and the others who responded are heroes. Not all of us have the will to act. A lot of us second-guess ourselves. Chris knew that he needed to serve.”
Retired South Jersey municipal court and Rutgers law professor Judge Jason Witcher, who organized an event to honor Wilson, stated he was moved by Wilson’s unflinching efforts that day.
“The images will be with him for the rest of his life, demons will haunt him, the heat of the fire and screams of those people will be heard long after the attention fades,” Witcher said on Facebook.
“A man who risked himself to save someone else is a hero to me. We celebrate football championships and sporting victories, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but the community and the government officials in Cumberland County need to recognize this hero. Salute Bro. Chris.”
His Wheelhouse
Wilson has quietly returned to what he is most known for in the Vineland area: serving youth. As the founder of the nonprofit, Sound Mind Sound Body of New Jersey, Chris humbly and readily gives of himself without any need of fanfare to the community.
Chris recently organized a youth pool party at Vineland’s Carl V. Arthur Center where the young people of Vineland were able to enjoy the day with friends before they returned to school.
“It was so good to see everyone enjoying the pool festivities [Aug. 29],” Vineland City Council president Dr. Elizabeth Arthur posted on Facebook. “Was also good to see the chair lift was available and being used.
“Kudos to Sound Mind Sound Body/Chris for sponsoring swim lessons as well as food, drinks and ice cream for the last day at the pool. Looking forward to more children taking advantage of this next year.”
For many in the community, this is in Wilson’s wheelhouse.
“He’s been doing swimming lessons for the youth in Vineland,” Gonzalez Martinez said. “This is what makes this person who he is. Yes, Chris showed up [on July 26] but this is who he is. He shows up for the community. He shows up for people. He’s relentless.”
Wilson will have to live with the image of watching someone who he tried to save die. He discussed his mental health challenges dealing with that image, along with pulling people from a burning car moments before it would have consumed them.
But Wilson said he would not hesitate to do it again if that’s what it would take to save their lives.
For Charlene Jones, she is grateful to have her son and the rest of her family together with her.
“We will forever be grateful to him,” she said.
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