A Los Angeles hotel owner was on a cigarette break when he rushed into action to save a California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer after a car crash.

Shiraz Deayal, owner of a Days Inn in the Los Angeles suburb of West Covina, is being called a hero for his actions on December 13.

“I pry open his door and I’m trying to see if he’s alert or not. I grab his radio and I say, ‘Officer down, officer down,’ and the radio goes silent and they do an all alert and they ask me where I’m at and who I am,” Deayal recalled to Fox 11 News.

The crash occurred around 2 p.m. on the eastbound 10 Freeway. Rescue teams who reported to the scene said the CHP officer was seated in his patrol car while conducting a traffic stop at the time of the collision. Investigators concluded that two cars initially collided with each other, which led to the driver of a Toyota Sequoia losing control of his vehicle and rear-ending the CHP officer’s patrol car. The officer’s car subsequently rear-ended the car he had just pulled over.

“The impact caused the patrol vehicle to be pushed forward and collide into the rear of the Toyota Corolla,” Officer Joseph Davila of the department’s Baldwin Park office said.

Deayal said he immediately jumped over a fence to assist the officer.

“If it was a regular accident I wouldn’t have hopped over the fence but as it was a law enforcement officer I did hop over. The officer’s safety is my most concern,” the Good Samaritan said.

“I’m trying to hop it, couldn’t hop it and a guy helped me out, do not know who he is, but I was the first one on the scene,” Deayal added.

He said that when the officer regained consciousness, his first thought was for the safety of others.

“He was trying to do something I thought he’d never do. He was worried about the people around him and I tell him, ‘Don’t worry I got you.’ I tried to help him out as best I can,” Deayal recalled.

The officer was transported to Pomona Valley Hospital shortly after with moderate injuries. Others involved in the crash suffered minor injuries.