A California trucker has been recognized for his actions when another tractor-trailer crashed in front of him as he was driving last month.
The Truckload Carriers Association recently named Terry Whittington, Victorville, California, a Highway Angel for stopping to help a trucker whose truck crashed into a ditch on the side of a highway in the middle of the night. Whittington works for ABF Freight out of Fort Smith, Arkansas.
TCA explains:
On March 11 at 2:40 a.m. Whittington was on Interstate 40 near the Kelbaker exit in Amboy, California, when he witnessed another semi-truck lose control.
“The guy almost ran into me,” he said. “He was doing about 80, he kept going back and forth, and then he went off into the ditch — he never hit his breaks.”
Whittington pulled over to the side of the road, called 911, and went down in the ditch where the truck crashed and waited with the driver. He believes the driver fell asleep at the wheel.
“He was still half asleep after the whole ordeal,” he said about the trucker, after the California Highway Patrol pulled him out of his truck, uninjured. “The truck and trailer were severely damaged — it was a violent crash.”
A truck driver for the past 25 years, Whittington said if he had not witnessed the crash, the site would have been hidden from passersby on the highway.
“If you crash, I’ll stop every time to help,” he said. “I’ve just always stopped.”
