Nalco Champion drivers save trapped big rig driver For Will Honeycutt, there was no time to think. Instead, he chose to act when he and colleague James Dedear spotted an 18-wheel truck overturned on the highway ahead of them about 40 miles south of San Antonio Thursday afternoon. “We knew immediately that if the driver was still in there, he was in big trouble,” Will said. Will and James, delivery specialists, quickly parked on the side of the highway and ran to the truck. Inside, they found the driver horrifically wedged in his truck’s cab, its steering wheel digging into his bent over and contorted body. What’s worse, amid broken glass, tangled truck parts and blood, they saw the driver wasn’t breathing. “Someone handed me a pocket knife and I cut his seatbelt free,” said Will. “James and I turned him a bit where I could get to his head. I did a quick finger sweep of his mouth and glass and blood came out. That’s when he gasped for air.” In the 15 minutes or so before paramedics and fire fighters arrived at the wreck near Falls City on Highway 181, Will and James held the man’s hands and talked to him as he mumbled replies. “He went in and out of (consciousness) at least twice, but we knew he was hearing us because he kept squeezing our hands,” James said. Firefighters used specialized equipment to cut through the crushed truck cab to get the driver out. Paramedics rushed him to University Hospital in San Antonio. (MORE DETAILS TO COME, WE HOPE). Steve Taylor, president and executive vice president, praised the quick actions taken by the two Nalco Champion delivery specialists. “This selfless act embodies everything we could ever hope for in our employees,” he said. For Will, the experience reinforces why his team and all other crews share “safety moments” before their shifts begin each day. “It’s a reminder that nobody is promised tomorrow,” he said. “I just hope and pray that if I’m ever in (the driver’s) position, someone would come and help me, too.”
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 13:33:47 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015