Truckers Named TCA Highway Angel for Rescuing Elderly Woman from Snow Embankment after Car Crash 

12/01/2023
Alexandria, Virginia

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) has named truck drivers Lacy Leonhart, from Springboro, PA, Karl Reidner, from Rockwall, TX, and Valerie Millwood, from Aragon, GA, TCA Highway Angels for stopping to rescue a 73-year-old woman whose car went over an embankment covered in snow. Leonhart, Riedner and Millwood drive for America’s Service Line Inc out of Green Bay, WI. 

 It’s an incredible story: On Nov. 28. 2023, around 3:00 p.m., Leonhart was driving through McKean, PA on Interstate 79. She saw a spin-out wreck on the right arm of the ramp, but noticed an elderly woman to the left side of the road, crawling out of the embankment, covered in snow.  

 “I saw the car facing the other way on the onramp, but there was another car down in the ravine with an older lady crawling on her hands and knees trying to climb up the hill,” Leonhart said.  

 Leonhart shared what was happening on her CB radio, and fellow truckers from her company, Karl Riedner and Valerie Millwood, pulled over to help as well.  

 “We were on the CB talking,” Millwood said. “We didn’t see her (the crash victim) at first, so we all stopped and jumped out.”  

 Another car with a couple pulled over also. Riedner managed to direct traffic, then Leonhart and the couple managed to pull the fragile woman out of the snow and get her back across the road to safety. All the truckers helped keep her warm and talked with the woman until the paramedics and emergency responders arrived. 

 “We got her wrapped up in a blanket,” Millwood said. 

 “To me, stopping was the right thing to do,” Leonhart said. “There was nobody there; nobody had seen her.” 

 Since the TCA Highway Angels 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 Ms. Leonhart, Ms. Millwood and Mr. Riedner. 

 The TCA Highway Angels website can be accessed at https://www.truckload.org/highway-angel/.