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Truck driver Jeff Zoellick likes driving at night. He says he finds there is less traffic and less hassle, which usually means there is less to worry about. Usually.
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About two weeks ago, Jeff was headed west on I-40 in northern
Texas
. He was making his way to
California
when he decided to take exit 124 off the interstate to check his map and log books. Shortly after parking, he heard a “slapping” noise on his trailer. When he checked it out, a young man, badly shaken, was banging on his doors asking for help. “His legs were all scratched up and his clothes were torn,” said Jeff. “He said, ‘Help me. Help me. There’s been an accident and my family is hurt.’”
Jeff followed the teenager 50 feet from his truck where the family’s SUV had rolled off the road in to a field landing right-side up. The situation was not good. Jeff found the boy’s mother still securely strapped in the front passenger seat. She was unconscious, but breathing steadily. He then found the boy’s father who was critically injured and his six-year-old sister who had a concussion, but was alert and crying. Jeff also found the boy’s other sister – a nine-year girl, who did not survive the accident.
After calling 911, Jeff returned to the family. Jeff had been a Civil Air Patrol Volunteer for the past three years. The Civil Air Patrol searches for missing people and missing and downed aircraft. “I had taken many advanced classes and was trained in search-and-rescue,” explained Jeff. But he’s the first to admit, “I was very nervous.”
Until the police arrived, Jeff’s primary goal was to keep the father alert and the children calm and away from their parents. Jeff talked non-stop to father, son and daughter. He gave the little girl a blanket and made her sit on the steps of this truck so she wouldn’t go to sleep. Jeff continuously asked her and her brother, who by this time was in a deep state of shock, about their mom and dad to keep them engaged and awake. Jeff also had the added task of flagging down the police cars after they had initially passed by the scene of the accident. 20 minutes later the police arrived; the emergency crew followed 10 minutes after that.
When asked if he felt he was a hero, Jeff simply replied, “I do not feel like a hero. I wish I could have done more.”
Not long after one child was MedFlighted to Northwest Medical and the others were taken away by ambulance, Jeff called his girlfriend. And then his 18 year-old son. “I just had to tell him that I loved him.”
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