“The airbags all popped from the sides and the front. I tried to put my right foot down … and I saw the bone sticking out of my leg. I had to sit back down and I didn’t know what I was going to do. That’s when he ran up to me,” Guin said about Hinkle.

“I got there in time to grab her and pick her back up. I could smell gasoline … I knew we had to move,” said Hinkle, who carried Guin to the other side of the road. “At that point, I just laid down beside her, because the shocks and tires were exploding. I made her keep looking at me, I made her keep talking.”

Guin started to panic when the car exploded, but Hinkle rolled over her and used his body as a human shield to protect her. “He’s my guardian angel. He deserves all the praise in the world. He’s just an amazing man,” Guin said about Hinkle, who claims he was just at the right place at the right time.

“Anybody that wears the uniform that I wear — any one of them — I’m confident would’ve done the exact same thing in the same situation. The civilians I know would, too,” Hinkle said. “I don’t consider myself a hero. I was in the right place at the right time and I had the training to help keep her calm and the strength to keep her from getting hurt further.”