when patrolman brian dowel arrives at the scene, the van is burning up. >> i could hear somebody yellingre was really raging. >> the flames and smoke are so thick, patrolman dowel is unable to see into the van. >> i reached the driver's door and seen the fingers reaching out yelling, i'm burning, i'm burning. >> i tried to get my seat belt undone. i couldn't get the seat belt. it had melted. so i couldn't do the latch. >> dowel tries to pull deblock out but he can't. another officer hands dowel a knife. >> i cut the seat belt and we pulled mr. deblock out of the vehicle, falling to the ground. >> i was just happy to be out of there. and if it wasn't for that officer, i wouldn't be here. it was like i was taking my last breath and out i came. >> no matter how many times videotape shows how dangerous and challenging it is to be a police officer, there is no shaking the graphic images of police brutality they can reveal. at times, videotape may not tell the whole truth but it allows us to put ourselves in the shoes of the officers who make split-second, right or wrong, life and death decisi