LANDOVER, Md. -
Three Prince George's county police officers were the first responders to arrive on the scene. When they arrived, a Mercury Mountaineer that had been traveling westbound on Route 704, Martin Luther King Highway, was engulfed in flames.
Rodwell McNeill, 70, of Glenarden, was trapped inside. Police say the officers tried to break the windshield to get him out, but the fire was too intense.
One officer was taken to the hospital for treatment of burns to his arms and face. Police are not naming him, except to say he is a lieutenant, in the intelligence unit, who has been with the department for 23 years.
Another officer, who assisted in the attempted rescue is a 21-year-veteran. People who live near McNeill in Glenarden says he was a gentleman and a family man. They say he was married and had two stepchildren.
