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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
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