A driver for U.S. Xpress was recently named a "Highway Angel" by the Truckload Carriers Association for stopping to help a man who was stranded on a mountain after crashing his car in a ditch hours earlier
Truck driver Jacob Picklesimer, from Resaca, Ga., was driving in Polk County, Tenn., on Highway 64 through the Ocoee River gorge, according to a news release from the truckers association. Around 6:45 a.m., he noticed a man sitting with his back toward traffic on the white line of the two-lane highway.
Picklesimer pulled off the road. When he checked on the man, he learned the motorist had crashed his car around 3 a.m. and lost his phone in the accident. He had no way to ask for help. His dog was with him and had died in the accident, he told the trucker.
"I can't believe that nobody stopped," Picklesimer said in the release. "It would only take a minute to stop and roll down your window and say 'hey, do you need to use a phone or something?' I wouldn't want to sit out there by myself with my dead dog for four hours. I just felt really bad for him."
Picklesimer offered his phone to the man, who then tried calling his wife and then his father, and then they called an ambulance. The trucker and the injured man waited together on the side of the road as cars zoomed by. The crash victim and his father were grateful that someone stopped to help.
"Highway Angels" are recongized for exemplary kindness, courtesy and courage displayed while on the job. Nearly 1,300 professional truck drivers have been recognized as "Highway Angels" since 1997, the association said in the release.