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Highway Angels Professional truck drivers Rick Connell, Bruno Filipe Da Costa Raposo, Chris Delancey, Josh Elmore, Gene Miller, Robbin Peters, and Donna Wright have been named Highway Angels by the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) for acts of heroism while on the road. Since the program’s inception in August 1997, nearly 1,300 professional truck drivers have been recognized as Highway Angels for the exemplary kindness, courtesy, and courage they have displayed while on the job. The program is made possible by presenting sponsor EpicVue and supporting sponsor DriverFacts. Rick Connell Connell, who lives in Auburn, Washington, and drives for ABF Freight, was recognized for coming to the aid of an elderly man who had fallen in his yard. A delivery truck driver, Connell responded to an unusual request as he was making a delivery in a residential neighborhood in Lynnwood, Washington. According to a letter sent to ABF Freight by a customer, when Connell arrived with a delivery, the next-door neighbor could be heard calling out for help through the bushes. She told Connell her husband had fallen in their garden and couldn’t get up. “The consignee and I ran through the bushes,” shared Connell, “and I jumped over the fence.” He found the man lying in a flowerbed. “He had been there for an hour on a hot, sunny day,” Connell added. The man was conscious but couldn’t lift himself out of the raised flowerbed. “I asked him if he had any injuries and checked him over,” said Connell. “I think his pride was hurt, but otherwise he seemed to be okay.” Connell helped him up and placed him into a chair in a shady area of the yard. At the wife’s request, he called 911 to get the fire department and paramedics to come and assess the man. “He was cold and clammy and I was concerned about a potential heart attack. I knew he was embarrassed, so I told him if he needed anything I’d be on the other side of the fence,” shared Connell. With that, Connell then jumped back over the fence to finish his delivery and stayed until he heard the paramedics arrive. Connell has been driving for 23 years. He has come across fatal accidents and stranded motorists in the middle of the night, and once helped Oregon state police search for a vehicle that had gone off the road in a blizzard. “I don’t consider what happened that day to be extraordinary,” he said. “It was such a minor thing. It was nothing exciting or dramatic.” Then he chuckles a bit, recalling that he was pleasantly surprised he was able to jump that fence two times at the age of 50. Bruno Filipe Da Costa Raposo Da Costa Raposo, who lives in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and drives for Bison Transport, was recognized for helping prevent a man from jumping off a bridge onto the roadway below. Da Costa Raposo was on U.S. Highway 287 near Amarillo, Texas, in the late morning hours of August 24, 2020, when he saw something on a bridge up ahead. As he got closer, he realized the figure was a man who was about to jump off onto the roadway. As Da Costa Raposo approached, he put on his four-way flashers, pulled over to the shoulder, and stopped about 50 feet from the bridge. He waited until there was a break in traffic and then positioned his truck and trailer to block the highway and stop traffic. He got out and went to talk with the man who was sitting on the edge of the bridge above him. “He told me he had lost his job, his wife had left him, and his kids didn’t want to see him anymore,” recalled Da Costa Raposo. He tried to empathize with the man and told him about the difficult times he had had in his own life. “I was trying to distract him,” he said. “Those few minutes felt like half an hour.” Then the man stood up and looked as though he was going to jump. “It felt like things were going in slow motion,” said Da Costa Raposo. “I pleaded with him to talk a little bit more. I wanted him to listen to me, to let time pass until the police arrived. I kept looking (around) and wondering, where are the cops?” A few minutes later, a police officer arrived, RICK CONNELL BRUNO FILIPE DA COSTA RAPOSO CHRIS DELANCEY ROBBIN PETERS JOSH ELMORE 42 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2021
having been alerted about Da Costa Raposo’s truck stopped across the roadway. When the officer realized what was going on, he called for backup. Just a short time later, Da Costa Raposo saw police officers on the bridge approaching the man. They spoke with him for a few minutes and were able to convince him to move back from the edge of the bridge. Da Costa Raposo said he awoke early that morning, unable to sleep. “I had an uneasy feeling,” he remembered. “I thought that something was going to happen that day.” He recalled that as he approached the bridge a few hours later, his hands began to shake. Afterward, when he got back in his truck, he decided he needed to take a break. “It was emotional,” he said. “I couldn’t focus on the road.” He drove to a safe spot where he could get out and walk around to clear his head. Da Costa Raposo’s family moved to Montreal, Quebec from São Miguel, Azores, Portugal, when he was young. He learned French at school and learned English by listening to the radio at home. Today, he and his wife, Stéphanie, have two young children and are expecting their third child. Chris Delancey Delancey, who lives in Vineland, New Jersey, and drives for Hirschbach Motor Lines, was recognized for helping stop and apprehend a reckless driver who was found to be carrying cocaine. This marks the second Highway Angel recognition for Delancey in six months. In December 2019 he was at a Flying J truck stop in Columbia, South Carolina, when he responded to screams for help. The parents of a young child had found her unresponsive in the back seat of their vehicle. Delancey performed CPR and was able to resuscitate the child before first responders arrived. Most recently, it was just before midnight on June 14 and Delancey was on Interstate 65 North in Tennessee, about to pass the Kentucky state line, when a pickup truck entered from an on-ramp and swung wildly across the three-lane highway. “He almost hit the concrete barrier,” recalled Delancey. “Then he swerved back to the right shoulder, nearly colliding with another vehicle. Then he stopped dead in front of me.” Delancey said he wondered what was happening. He activated his dashcam and watched as the male driver and female passenger got out and urinated in the middle of the highway. “Then they got back in the vehicle and drove 300 yards and then got out and did it again,” he said. Delancey called 911 and reported what he thought was a drunk driver. He described the vehicle as well as his own. Then he positioned his rig to prevent a passing motorist from rear ending the drunk driver’s vehicle. The dispatcher told Delancey to turn his four-ways on. “Then the driver took off again. I lost sight of him as he went over a hill,” said Delancey. When Delancey crested the hill, he saw the vehicle was now stopped up ahead, partly on the shoulder and right lane. Delancey positioned his truck in front of the pickup to prevent them from driving off. By now they could hear sirens coming. “The trooper pulled up and handcuffed the driver, who could barely walk, and put him in the back of the squad car, and had the female passenger lean against the squad car as he searched their vehicle,” said Delancey, adding that as this was happening, the passenger opened the squad car door. “She was trying to stuff a two-ounce packet of cocaine into the driver’s mouth to swallow,” he recalled. He acted quickly and restrained her until the trooper could handcuff her. The trooper told Delancey there was a little girl who looked to be about 4 years old, asleep and unrestrained in the front seat. Delancey learned that both the driver and passenger were using fictitious IDs and vehicle tags. They were charged on multiple counts, including driving while intoxicated, possession of cocaine, wanton disregard for public safety, and child endangerment. They had been wanted by immigration for three years. The child was placed in protective custody. Later, Delancey received a phone call from the Kentucky State Police Commissioner, who commended him for his actions that likely saved many lives that night. Robbin Peters Peters, who lives in Vancleave, Mississippi, and drives for Carroll Fulmer Logistics Corporation, was recognized for springing into action to extinguish flames and save a fellow truck driver from a burning rig. It was April 8, 2019, and Peters had just parked his truck at a Petro in Hammond, Louisiana. He had no idea he was about to have a life-changing experience. Peters noticed a driver exit a truck nearby and head inside the truck stop. Without thinking much about it, Peters assumed this was the only driver in the cab. A few minutes later, Peters noticed dark smoke billowing out from under the passenger side of the truck. Leroy Kirk, a Petro employee, also saw the smoke and came running out to assess the situation. He had not seen anyone from the truck go into the store, so the employee was under the assumption that someone must be in the truck. Without hesitation, Peters grabbed his fire extinguisher and ran over to the truck. GENE MILLER DONNA WRIGHT When he got closer, he saw there were 2-foot flames now rolling under the front portion of the cab on the passenger’s side. Peters shared how hot and intense the flames were, and that hot molten metal was dropping onto the fuel tank. “I didn’t know at the time that there was still someone in the truck,” said Peters. “I was assuming it was just the one man that went inside. I began to start extinguishing the fire, and the Petro employee came running out and [started] knocking on the door. At this point I realized there was still someone inside.” Peters shared that there was a puddle that looked like lava, and a soccer ball size hole in the fuel tank. “I didn’t know how much longer that tank would make it,” he said. “We had a row of trucks that were about to become the equivalent of a meteorite hitting Earth. Because it was diesel, it didn’t explode. But if it would have been gas, I wouldn’t be having this conversation with you right now.” Peters successfully extinguished the fire and the Petro employee retrieved the other man, who had been sleeping inside the truck. The driver in the truck spoke broken English, but the men could tell he was terrified. The fire was directly under his bunk. The outcome was a good one, all things considered. Peters was in the Marine Corps for 11 years on active duty and was a police officer for almost another 11 years. During this time, he was a first responder to an active shooter at an apartment complex, and he saved a little girl in SEE ANGELS, PAGE 44 TCA 2021 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 43
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