The Truckload Carriers Association recognized truck driver Anthony McGee of Elyria, Ohio, as a Highway Angel for helping two teenage girls after they lost control of their car.
On May 30, 2008, Allison Theobold, 19, and Chani Capps, 18, both of Grand Junction, Colo., were visiting friends in Idaho and traveling eastbound on Interstate 84 when the car, driven by Theobold, drifted onto the rumble strips on the left edge of the highway and then blew out its front tire.
Theobold steered the car back to the right, but overcorrected and sent it rolling four or five times across the two-lane highway. It stayed in the eastbound traffic lane, but came to rest on the right shoulder, facing west. McGee was driving about 30 feet behind the car when he saw it flip and go airborne, scattering the teenagers’ belongings all across the highway. He and another motorist stopped to help and found both girls bleeding profusely and in a lot of pain.
“I didn’t know which one to help first,” McGee says. “The driver was hanging out of the window, bleeding from her stomach and screaming for help. The passenger seemed to be bleeding from the back of her neck and several other places.”
Thinking quickly, McGee cut a blanket into strips and used it to apply pressure against the girls’ wounds until an off-duty nurse stopped to help, followed shortly by the paramedics.
A driver for Marten Transport of Mondovi, Wis., McGee received a Highway Angel lapel pin, certificate and patch for his efforts. Marten Transport also received a certificate acknowledging that one of its drivers is a Highway Angel.
Since its inception in August 1997, the Highway Angels program has recognized hundreds of drivers for the unusual kindness, courtesy and courage they have shown others while on the job. TCA has received letters and e-mails from people across North America nominating truck drivers for the program.
