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ESPN.com's John Clayton reports free agent TE Cam Cleeland (Rams) risked his life to try and rescue a 22-year old motorist from a burning car Sunday, May 23, that had been lodged roadside between two 100-foot trees in Mount Vernon, Washington. The victim, Timothy Roth, died once he arrived at the hospital. "It was an unbelievable situation," Cleeland said. "I was coming back from a softball game, and driving along Little Mountain Road. I was coming around the road and there was a car. And there was a fire." Cleeland did not suffer any injuries and was only treated for smoke inhalation after the incident.
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Re: Cleeland tires to rescue
What a contrast between Cleeland and Lennard Little. One tries to save a life, the other successfully kills a life. Little gets off with a "you bad boy", and a few years later is drinking and driving again.
No matter how many sacks Little gets, I'll always think of him as a dog. -
Re: Cleeland tires to rescue
Totally agree... personally, I'd like to see him off the team (morality is at stake)No matter how many sacks Little gets, I'll always think of him as a dogComment
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http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/column...ohn&id=1813776
Motorist died upon arrival at hospital
By John Clayton
ESPN.com
Athletes commonly react on instinct. Unsigned Rams tight end Cam Cleeland risked his life on May 23 to help save someone else's.
Cleeland, 28, and his wife, Mindy, were driving along a road they travel every day in Mount Vernon, Wash. He spotted a fire off the road near a stand of trees and soon realized a passenger was in a burning car and needed help.
Cleeland, speaking publicly about the accident for the first time, described his courageous but futile attempt to save the life of Timothy Roth, a 22-year-old motorist who was trapped in the front seat of his burning 1994 Ford Taurus.
"It was an unbelievable situation," Cleeland said. "I was coming back from a softball game, and driving along Little Mountain Road. I was coming around the road and there was a car. And there was a fire."
Cleeland's wife, Mindy, dialed 911 on their cell phone while Cam rushed to the car. The fire was getting worse and Cleeland reacted.
The car was lodged and elevated between two 100-foot fir trees.
"The bottom of the window was eye-level for me," the 6-foot-5 Cleeland said. "He must have flown over the ditch and landed in the trees. I tried to rip the door off, but it was tough because the car was pinned between two trees."
Cars passed by and some older witnesses were around, but only Cleeland had the youth and courage to react. It was going to take time for the fire trucks and police to arrive.
"I was throwing dirt on him and trying to put out the fire," Cleeland said. "I also tried to keep talking to him. He could only nod his head. I was panicking. I got to thinking that this car could blow up."
The air bag in the Taurus opened, and Cleeland had to pull it away from Roth's face because the bag was on fire.
"He was pinned in there," Cleeland said. "I pushed the air bag away from his face and tried to keep talking to him to help him as best I [could]."
Another person soon arrived with a fire extinguisher. He and Cleeland worked to stop the flame. Soon, the fire truck arrived. It took 20 minutes to get Roth out of the car with the Jaws of Life.
Roth died once he arrived at the hospital.
Cleeland and his wife have been shaken up since the incident. There were no injuries to Cleeland's hands, but he did suffer some smoke inhalation. addition, there was an emotional toll.
"I still have nightmares," Cleeland said.
Professionally,...-06-02-2004, 08:43 AM -
As a tight end, Cameron Cleeland is best known for what once was done to him and for what he hasn't been able to do. He sustained damage to one of his eyes during an infamous training camp hazing incident his rookie season with New Orleans and has had difficulty avoiding injury since.
In six seasons with the Saints, Patriots (2002), and Rams (last year), he has played in every game only twice because of an assortment of injuries, among them three to his Achilles' tendons.
Not since he caught 54 passes in 1998 after arriving as a second-round pick out of the University of Washington has Cleeland been on the field long enough to meet the expectations.
But when Judgment Day arrives, Cleeland will be able to say that, for one moment at least, he did what he should have done.
Around 8:45 p.m. last Sunday, Timothy Roth's car struck a tree near the intersection of Little Mountain and Amick roads, southeast of Mount Vernon, Wash., which is about 70 miles north of Seattle. Roth's 1994 Ford Taurus became engulfed in flames.
He had to be airlifted to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, where he died at around 3 a.m. the next day from burns, according to the Washington State Patrol. Roth was 22.
When Cleeland came upon the accident scene, he didn't drive by or place an emergency call from his mobile phone, as perhaps many would have.
Cleeland, who is from nearby Sedro Woolley, pulled over and did unto another what he would have done unto him.
Rather than wait for the Big Lake Fire Department, Cleeland attempted to fight the blaze with an extinguisher, state troopers said, and while trying to remove the car's air bag from Roth's face, he suffered another injury -- severe burns to the hands with which he makes his living.
Fortunately, Cleeland is still alive, and apparently in the days since his rescue attempt has been thinking more about Roth and his family than about himself.
Rams spokesman Artis Twyman said he spoke last week with Cleeland, who is unsigned, and the tight end requested that the Rams not put out a news release and decline interviews on his behalf.
"Cam was really shaken up about it when I talked to him," Twyman said.
"I tried to talk to him but I could tell he didn't want to talk about it too much or go in depth, out of respect for the family.
"He said it's something you really don't want to experience in life. It must have been really bad; I could hear him getting choked up."
A memorial service for Roth was held yesterday in Langley, Wash.
As for Cleeland, he may have been a Patriot for only a season, but he will be a hero for the rest of his life....-05-30-2004, 05:30 AM -
I am hoping that some of my fellow Rams fans can help me out. Do any of you know where I can find some pictures of Cam Cleeland? He played tight end from 2003-05.
I did a Google search but did not find pictures large enough to help me see the details (shoes, gloves, etc.).
Any help is appreciated.
GO RAMS!!!-12-05-2006, 04:34 PM -
By Bill Coats
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Saturday, Oct. 08 2005
Some nine months after the fact, Cam Cleeland remains a target for some mostly
good-natured ribbing in his hometown of Mount Vernon, Wash.
"I still have friends that call me, 'Why'd you do that to us?'" Cleeland said.
"And I say, 'What did you want me to do? Drop it?'"
The scene was Qwest Field in Seattle, about 50 miles south of Mount Vernon. The
date was Jan. 8, the event a first-round playoff game between Cleeland's Rams
and the Seattle Seahawks.
The score was 20-20 late in the fourth quarter when quarterback Marc Bulger
lofted a pass high over the middle in the direction of the 6-foot-5, 270-pound
Cleeland.
"I didn't see anything except the ball," said Cleeland, a longtime Seahawks fan
and a University of Washington product. "I said, 'You'd better hang on to this
sucker.'"
Hang on, he did, despite a crushing hit by free safety Ken Hamlin a
split-second after the ball arrived. The 17- yard touchdown gave the Rams a
27-20 victory. It was Cleeland's only scoring catch of the season, and his last
reception in Rams blue-and-gold. Or, so it seemed.
When Roland Williams was signed as a free agent in March, Cleeland's two-year
stretch as the Rams' No. 2 tight end was over.
Asked if he was disappointed that the Rams jettisoned him so abruptly, Cleeland
said: "Maybe a little bit. But when it comes down to it, it is
business. And I've learned that this league is about what's productive and
what's good for the team.
"Of course I wanted to come back and play. But ... Roland came in, and I wasn't
upset or offended at all."
Battling injuries
At age 30, Cleeland has played seven NFL seasons. He was New Orleans'
second-round draft choice in 1998 and caught 54 passes for 684 yards as a
rookie. Largely because of a series of injuries, he never reached such totals
again. He missed the entire 2000 season with a ruptured Achilles' tendon, spent
one more year with the Saints and then a season with New England. Cleeland
signed with the Rams as a free agent in March 2003.
He played in 32 regular-season games over two seasons, catching 17 passes for
202 yards. His lone Rams TD came in front of a gaggle of friends and family,
and booted the Seahawks from the postseason.
He called the experience "surreal."
Content in his co-ownership role in a condominium- and custom-home construction
business he runs with his brother-in-law, Cleeland spurned a couple of tryout
offers last summer.
He and Tim Roberson got the firm...-10-09-2005, 07:54 AM -
I don't even know how to react to this. Words can't express what I've been thinking....-05-31-2004, 12:40 AM
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