When an out-of-control tractor-trailer was seen barreling down Interstate 70 in Kansas, a farmer and his son took determined measures to come to the trucker’s aid. The big rig driver had reportedly suffered a medical issue that caused him to black out while hauling a load down the Interstate.
“This semi that was traveling at a high right of speed, coming down the median between the two lanes, I didn’t think much about it,” Brent Ginther reportedly said. “I said, ‘What the heck is going on there?’ And all my hired men who were with me just said, ‘Well, there’s nobody driving that truck.’”
According to Sherman County Sheriff Burton Pianalto, Brent Ginther and his son, Bradly, took “extraordinary” actions to keep the trucker and nearby motorists out of harm’s way.
“The farmer and his son traveling in the same direction noticed the driver needing help, so they went into action,” Sheriff Pianalto reportedly said. “This action more than likely saved the life of the truck driver along with protecting all the other travelers on I-70 and Highway 27. It is amazing what people will do to help others they do not know.”
The semi-truck was reportedly traveling westbound on I-70 when the driver passed out. The big rig wove into the median, remaining between the lanes of traffic for approximately one-quarter mile. After the truck hopped a crossover, Brent Ginther indicated that it slowed enough for the father-son team to make a rescue attempt. Like something out of a Tom Cruise action movie, Bradly Ginther leaped onto the passenger’s side door to get into the cab. Confronted by a locked door, his father tossed him a hammer to smash the window and enter the vehicle.
“I gave him a hammer, and he knocked the window out and shut the truck off, and got it shut off just in time,” Brent Ginther reportedly said.
The younger Ginther was able to bring the tractor-trailer to a standstill before it reached Exit 17. The elder Ginther estimated the rig would have gone off a 30-foot drop if it had traveled another one-eighth of a mile. That would have landed it smack in the middle of the highway, endangering passenger vehicle motorists and the life of the unconscious trucker.
After the sheriff’s department shared the story on social media, the Ginthers received an outpouring of praise. One post said, “They need some kind of enormous award from the mayor, governor, and president. This is incredible.”
For their part, the senior Ginther said they are “just good farm guys and we’d help anybody.”
Sources:
https://nypost.com/2023/12/24/news/father-son-stop-out-of-control-semi-truck-on-kansas-highway/
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