Trucker recognized for rescuing accident victim who was on fire

A Georgia trucker was recently recognized for coming to the aid of the victim of a fiery tanker truck accident.

The Truckload Carriers Association has named truck driver William Mitchell, from Alto, Georgia, a TCA Highway Angel for stopping to help a pickup truck driver who was unconscious and on fire, trapped under his vehicle after crashing into a tanker truck. Mitchell drives for Penske Logistics out of Reading, Pennsylvania.

TCA explains:

William MitchellOn Oct. 16, 2024 in Jefferson, Georgia, Mitchell was waiting at a red light on a divided highway, U.S. Highway 129 and Henry D. Robinson Boulevard. He witnessed a collision between a pickup truck and tanker truck.

“I guess he hit him right in the fuel tank,” Mitchell said. “It was an instant fireball. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a car accident that had an explosion like that other than in a movie.”

After the explosion, Mitchell quickly parked and ran to the pickup truck to check on the driver.

“I thought, if for whatever reason they didn’t die on impact, they are surely unconscious or something,” he said. “And I know I would not want to be left in a vehicle and be  burned alive.”

After running to the pickup truck, Mitchell saw the driver had been ejected and was underneath the truck, on fire. The truck was also on fire. He ran to his truck and grabbed his fire extinguisher and ran back and put out the blaze.

“By then two other gentlemen had come and helped me get the driver a couple feet from the truck,” Mitchell said. They tried, to no avail, to extinguish the fire near the tanker truck.

“It was just everywhere; there was just no point in trying that,” he said.

The tanker had rolled over during the crash, and its driver managed to crawl out of the cab and get out of harm’s way.  While the injured pickup truck driver was listed in stable condition, the driver of the tanker truck walked away with no injuries.

“I’m a very compassionate person, I guess,” Mitchell said. “I’m always in the mindset of ‘what would I want somebody to do for me?’ I surely would want somebody to save me and not leave me there.”