A routine drive home from work became an extraordinary act of courage for one of America’s most recognizable television journalists, as a burning wreck on a packed Maryland interstate brought traffic — and time itself — to a grinding halt.
Tom Costello, a senior correspondent for NBC News based in Washington, was making his way home along the Capital Beltway on the evening of May 12 when the events of an otherwise ordinary Monday night changed in an instant.
A car blew past him at what he estimated was 100 miles per hour. Seconds later, it was over — the vehicle clipped a bend in the road and slammed directly into a concrete barrier.
The collision did not merely damage the car. The car exploded into what Costello described as “a hundred pieces — not fire, immediately, but pieces everywhere.”
The vehicle then left the ground entirely. It flipped through the air before crashing back down onto the Beltway surface, where it came to a smoldering rest.
Costello did not hesitate. He grabbed his phone and dialed 911, telling the dispatcher to move fast — that whoever was inside that car was in serious trouble.
“Get your trucks rolling right now,” he told the dispatcher, stressing that the person in the wreck needed help as soon as possible.
He then pulled over, stepped out of his vehicle, and began walking toward a car that was actively on fire. He braced himself for what he expected to find.
“I went and I opened up the car door, and I thought he would be dead,” Costello said. “Honestly, I thought nobody could survive this.”
What greeted him on the other side of that door defied the wreckage surrounding it.
A 17-year-old boy sat in the driver’s seat, eyes open, gazing blankly through what remained of the front windshield. He was alive. He was conscious.
Costello spoke to the boy, asking whether he could hear him and whether he had feeling in his fingers and toes. The teenager acknowledged him. His only words were that “everything hurts.”
Beneath the car, flames were beginning to take hold. They were small at first — then they were not.
Costello faced a difficult calculation. Moving a crash victim risks compounding spinal and internal injuries. But leaving a conscious teenager inside a vehicle that was filling with fire carried its own consequence.
He made a decision. Costello turned toward the passing lanes and began waving his arms at oncoming traffic, flagging down anyone willing to stop.
Two people did. One turned out to be an orthopedic surgeon. The other, Costello would later learn, was a nurse.
The surgeon helped support the driver’s neck while Costello grabbed his torso and the nurse held his legs. The three strangers lifted the boy from the burning car in unison and carried him down the off-ramp to safety.
Moments after they cleared the wreck, the vehicle fully ignited and exploded.
Pete Piringer, chief spokesperson for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, confirmed the teenager survived.
He wrote on X: “A young driver is alive today due the decisive actions taken [by] passing motorists, including long-time Montgomery County resident @NBCNews Reporter @tomcostellonbc & several others, who stopped to help prior to the arrival of emergency responders.”
Costello was back on the air within 12 hours, delivering the account himself to NBC News anchor Hallie Jackson in front of a national audience.
He admitted he struggled to sleep that night. “I mean, thank God for that orthopedic surgeon, and the nurse, she was amazing,” he said.
He ended with a pointed message for the parents of young drivers across the country.
“I think the lesson here is watch your kids. I mean, this was a 17-year-old, probably hadn’t been driving long, 100 miles per hour, he should be dead. I can’t believe he’s alive, to be honest with you,” Costello said.
