An Ohio trucker was recently recognized for his efforts to aid a fellow trucker who was injured.
The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) named truck driver Brian Sims, from West Milton, Ohio, a TCA Highway Angel for stopping to help an injured trucker when he was struck in the head while working on his trailer. Sims drives for ABF Freight out of Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Brian SimsOn Dec. 9, around 4:15 p.m. in Union, Ohio, Sims was out making a delivery, driving on Jackson Road. Another truck driver was stopped in front of him and was attempting to slide his trailer tandem axles. The other driver was underneath the trailer, hitting his pins with a hammer.
“I saw him and thought, ‘What the heck is this guy doing?’” Sims said.
When the pins released suddenly, the trailer violently lurched downward, struck him in the head and knocked him out.
“The trailer comes down and knocks him out cold in the middle of the street,” Sims said. “I thought he was dead—he went completely limp and out on the ground.”
Along with a few other witnesses, Sims pulled up and exited his truck to check on the man. The unconscious man had a large, bloody gash on his forehead. Sims talked to a 911 operator and tended to the man, who regained consciousness. Just a few minutes later, before the ambulance arrived, the man decided to drive away and left the scene.
“I don’t know if he was embarrassed, but he hopped back in his truck and away he went,” Sims said. “He had blood running down the side of his head. He was a mess. I had just stopped and tried to do what’s right.”
Since the TCA Highway Angel program’s inception in August 1997, nearly 1,400 professional truck drivers have been recognized as TCA Highway Angels for exemplary kindness, courtesy, and courage displayed while on the job. Thanks to the program’s presenting sponsor, EpicVue, and supporting sponsors, DriverFacts and Northland Insurance, TCA is able to showcase outstanding drivers like Sims.
Brian Sims
