A trucker was there with a fellow driver, staying with him in his final moments to offer the only comfort he could.
It was early on a Friday morning late last year when John Weston came across an accident involving two trucks. It had been a high speed rear-end collision where the front of one cab was entangled in the back of the other trailer. Emergency services weren’t on the scene yet and other drivers were just passing right by.
Weston pulled over and checked on the lead truck first. When he saw that the two drivers were unharmed, he kept going to check on the driver of the rear truck.
He found the driver still strapped into his seat, but upside down. The driver called out to him to open the door, but the crash had crumpled the cab to the point where there wasn’t any door to open. Weston could only see the top of the driver’s head.
Weston learned that the other driver couldn’t feel anything, so he said “Would you mind if I put my hand on your head so you know that I’m with you?”
He stood there talking with him, his hand on the other man’s head for half an hour until the man passed away.
“If he would have had a team, or a pet, someone would have been there for him. But for some reason it was supposed to be me that stopped that day,” said Weston. “I was there with him when he passed away, with my hands on his head. He did not have pain in his voice, and he did not seem nervous. His name was Abdul he told me. He heard my English accent and I heard his foreign tongue, and in that time, not race nor religion nor anything else mattered. All that mattered was that I was there for him in his last moments, and I know that means a lot to families.”
This isn’t the first time Weston has been honored for stopping to help motorists in trouble. The year before Weston had opened up his cab to a mother and her children whose car he had seen in a ditch. He kept them in his warm cab out of the freezing temperatures until paramedics arrived.
“It’s just what we do,” he said. “You change a tire so someone can get home. It’s always someone’s mother or grandmother or friend. It’s what we do. You’re there, you do your job, and then you disappear.”
Source: gobytrucknews, overdrive, truckersnews, truckload
That’s the way the old truckers use to be. I was raised in a trucking family. My husband and my Dad worked on the road and would tell me stories like this about them stopping to help. In my opinion sir you have compassion and a caring heart. God bless you driver.
Well as negative as life can be… here
We have another fine example of how
Life was meant to be. If you put the
Good of others ahead of your own
Good the World would be a much
Better place!!!!
This is another example of kindness in the world. Many years ago my wife and three kids took a trip south for a visit. Along the way her car broke down. I’m 700 miles away and couldn’t help. Along came a trucker who helped out. Just so happens he had an empty car hauler. Not only did he load the car onto the trailer, but he drove them the remaining 150 miles of their trip and dropped them off at their destination. Thanks was all he wanted. Since that day I have the utmost respect for truckers and stop to help out when I see them along the roadside. America doesn’t run on DUNKIN, it runs on truckers keeping products moving.Thanks to all drivers!
That is so awesome! Thanks for sharing!
I’m not even in the tucking industry but a retired Deputy Sheriff here in Florida and I will say that out of ALL the accidents I came upon or was dispatched to, if there was a 18 Wheeler around, they always stopped. While all cars drove by not wanting to get involved or just plain out didn’t care, these guys/gals always would check on the people to see if they were ok and try to help them out. That I find very admirable and caring. That tells me there is still some heart out there.
I’ve seen some very nasty accidents during my 21 yr career, so I can only imagine what this poor driver was thinking he was going to find when he approached truck #2. A very sad situation indeed.
A true stand up guy, and guardian angel in a cab. You sir deserve recognition for all you have done.
John Weston, I too was a trucker
For some 28 years until my wife
Had a massive bleeding stroke
While out on the road with me.I tried
To work for another year but couldn’t
Afford to pay people to come in and
Take care of her. We had (3) grown
Children that lived with in (6) miles
Of us that weren’t interested in
Helping out.That was (9) years ago.
She is lying in bed sleeping now in
Peace.What I am trying to say is Thank You John Weston for brightening a otherwise not so bright
Day.I wish I had a chance to meet you somewhere along life’s highway
bud,for I certainly would have considered it a great honor.
Awesome
Keep on Trucking
I think most of us do what we can with no expectation of praise or payback. I’ve been in similar situations (not fatal) several times, and strangely enough the demands of getting a load delivered was never a consideration……help the people involved, guys. The freight will wait
god bless that driver for giving comfort to the other driver in his time of need, im sure the family was greatful their loved one was not alone at his passing
There’s nothing scarier than the thought of dying alone, by yourself. We all want friends and family around but sometimes it doesn’t work that way and even a kind stranger would help so much! One of my truck driver friends had a heart attack and died in the driver seat of his truck a couple years ago 1750 miles away from home. That would just be horrible. Thank God there is still good people left in this fast-paced, evil world!
In the end we are all just men
Thank you driver, you are proof that good still exists. May God bless you.
I was in that position once in northern California must have been 92/93 around that time and guy had somehow run off the freeway and up into an overpass. I was using the overpass and noticed something wrong , got looking around and saw the truck just below the concrete railing and he was still in there, i couldn’t reach him or assist in anyway except to be there after calling 911 and it took them over 20 minutes to get there. He couldn’t talk but he knew I was there and when the emt arrived I had to get my rig off the overpass where I’d been since I stopped. I just stayed there so he was not by himself, about all I could do..
I am glad to see stories like this, and would like to thank this driver for the selfless act he have to another person in their last moments. As a driver myself I hope one day to be able to help or be helped in a time of need. Thank you Weston.
In 1985 on Donner East bound, I was in an accident. Thank God I was not driving. My team driver was killed. I want to applaud the truck drivers who stopped to help any way they could. While I lay on the side of the road drivers brought pillows and blankets to cover both my team driver and myself. The kindness shown was paramount. I am also a driver. I went back to the road 3 years after the crash, not out of fear kept me off for that time, but I needed several different surgeries. I love being on the road. Since I first started, following my dad’s profession, I have seen many changes. Courtesy has lost its way. People driving trucks are not following the pattern of the old time truckers I learned from. Foul mouthed guys and gals fresh out of truck driving school think they know it all, wasn’t like that before driving schools. Young drivers listened to older drivers…and we learned a lot from the pioneers of the road. A truck broke down or an accident, you would know for sure a truck would stop to help. I applaud Mr. Weston for his time spent with the dying man. He proves to be a highway hero in my opinion. God bless all you dedicated drivers who spend your time safely and helpfully on the highways across America.