Trucker Named Highway Angel for Rescuing Small Children in Truck Fire 

08/23/2022
Alexandria, Virginia

ALEXANDRIA, VA—

The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) has named truck driver Jose “Tony” Medina, from Perryton, TX, a Highway Angel for helping rescue two children from a burning truck.  Medina drives for National Carriers in Liberal, KS. 

It’s an incredible story: On July 6, 2022, around 3 p.m., Medina was at the National Beef Packers in Liberal, Kansas. He was parked behind another truck, which had its back doors open for inspection. While Medina was checking in the office for his delivery, he noticed the truck in front of him had flames coming from it. The driver was in the truck, but Medina said he probably didn’t know his truck was on fire. 

“There were three things that really got me to spring into action,” Medina said. “One of them was I didn’t see anybody coming out of the truck, so I thought that maybe there was someone who needed help getting out.”  

Medina said that the wind was very strong that day, and he realized it would contribute to spreading the fire quickly, so he knew he needed to act quickly to help in the situation.  Finally, Medina knew he had to help when he discovered two small children in the truck. 

“I told the trucker and I told the little boy that the truck was on fire and they needed to get out,” he said. “So I pulled him out.” 

The truck driver was trying to unbuckle a baby from a car seat, so Medina then pulled the baby out of the truck.  

The flames were intense at this point, so Medina hurried to move his truck to avoid it catching on fire as well. In the end, the other truck was completely destroyed due to fire. 

Medina wasn’t even supposed to be at that location that day, but he had moved his schedule around due to a family vacation.  

“Luck of the draw, destiny, whatever you want to call it,” he said. “God working… whatever…I happened to be there at the right time.” 

Since the program’s inception in August 1997, nearly 1,300 professional truck drivers have been recognized as Highway Angels for exemplary kindness, courtesy, and courage displayed while on the job. Thanks to the program’s presenting sponsor, EpicVue, and supporting sponsor, DriverFacts, TCA is able to showcase outstanding drivers like Mr. Medina.