An Ohio driver has been recognized for making considerable efforts to help a troubled woman he found at a truck stop.
The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) recently named truck driver Ronald Harvey, from Hardington, Ohio, a TCA Highway Angel for stopping to help a woman who was a victim of human trafficking. Harvey drives for America’s Service Line, out of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
TCA explains:
Ronald HarveyOn Sept. 7, around 10:30 a.m., Harvey was at a truck stop store in Kenly, North Carolina where he saw a woman who was crying and seemed upset.
“While she was in there getting a soda, I asked her, ‘Are you okay?’” Harvey said. “She said ‘no.’”
Harvey noticed she was quite disheveled and asked her when the last time she ate anything, to which she told him it was three days earlier. Harvey bought her a meal at the truck stop and he learned she was a victim of human trafficking and had been kicked out of a truck at the truck stop. She had no money, no phone, and was visibly shaken.
Harvey eventually contacted his dispatch and then contacted a non-profit organization that gave the woman information about how to obtain help. He also allowed her to make phone calls to her family to let them know she was safe. He came to understand she may have addiction issues as well.
“I used to be a drug and alcohol counselor for the Marine Corps, so I kinda know what to ask and how to ask,” Harvey said. “I kept telling her, ‘I’m not going to leave you here. You’re gonna get to a safe place.’”
In the end, he bought her a phone and a bus ticket to go home to her family, where he hopes she is receiving the care and help she needs.
“It’s kinda in my repertoire -- it’s the right thing to do,” Harvey said.
Ronald Harvey
