Why is Andy held back from trying to rescue Rob

As the story begins we discover that high-school basketball star Robert Washington has been tragically killed in an automobile accident. Rob was a passenger in a car driven by his friend, Andy Jackson. Andy's responsible for the accident; he was drunk behind the wheel, causing him to weave erratically across the lanes of the expressway before crashing into a wall.
Upon impact, the car's gas tank exploded and the car burst into flames. This made it virtually impossible for Andy and the other survivors of the crash to save Rob from the wreck. The three young men—Andy, B.J., and Tyrone—tried frantically to pull Rob from the car's burning wreckage, but were beaten back by the flames. Despite their best efforts to save Rob, they were forced to look on helplessly as their friend burned to death.