TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Riverview, Florida, truck driver was named a “highway angel” after he rescued a mother and her daughter after their car flipped on a busy highway in Kansas last month.
Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) announced Thursday that truck driver Rodney Clay was named a “TCA Highway Angel” after jumping into action when he witnessed the crash occur.
Clay was traveling on I-435 in Lawrence, Kansas, on March 4 around 1:30 p.m. when he saw the mother and daughter’s vehicle crash into the road median about a quarter mile in front of him.
“I saw a car practically in the air, flipping. Nobody was stopping,” Clay said, “so I pulled over about 100 yards in front of the car off the interstate. I ran towards the car and saw it smoking and fluid leaking.”
TCA said their car had flipped, hit the ground, and slid, crashing into the fast lane wall.
Clay and a 30-year-old Marine veteran got out of their vehicles and approached the car, noticing that the airbags were deployed.
According to TCA, Clay lifted the passenger side airbag, afraid of what he was going to see; however, what he found was a young girl inside, screaming and shaking. The girl’s mother was found bleeding from her mouth.
Knowing that the mother and daughter would need more help, Clay stood in the way of traffic and stopped another tanker truck, who’s driver got out to assist in the rescue mission.
“I told the women, ‘You have to get out of this car now—it’s smoking really bad,’” Clay said. “I was afraid it was going to blow up.”
Clay said the young girl wouldn’t feel her hips, so he and another trucker pulled her out of the vehicle. They also rescued the mother and moved them away from the smoking vehicle.
The girl used Clay’s phone to call her dad, but he didn’t answer. Soon after paramedics arrived, Clay left and ended up texting her father, telling him what happened.
According to TCA, the father was “grateful for the message” and called Clay later that day to personally thank him for helping his family.
Clay, who works for Norton Transport, explained why he stopped to help. As a father of six, he thinks about paying it forward.
“If it happened to any of my kids, I’d want somebody to stop,” he said.
