Trucker Named TCA Highway Angel for

Rescuing Trapped Crash Victim

June 30th, 2025

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) has named truck driver Heather Barkey, Volant, PA, a TCA Highway Angel for stopping to aid a driver involved in a truck rollover. Barkey drives for Nussbaum Transportation, out of Hudson, IL.

It’s an incredible story: On June 18, 2025 around 10:30 p.m. in Mount Vernon, Illinois, Barkey was driving up to Nussbaum’s terminal and stopped to check on a driver involved in a truck rollover.

“I stopped on the side of the road because no one had stopped,” she wrote in a message to her company. “The truck was smoking when I got there and you could smell fuel.”

She had the composure to throw on her hazards so she didn’t make the situation worse, then call 911.

“The driver was stuck in there; I happened to have a mag light flashlight in my hand so I beat the window until I got it busted open and then he was able to kick it out,” she wrote. “Of course I called 911 during all of this and I stayed on the scene until the officer told me I was good to go.  I’m just glad he was okay.”

Since the TCA Highway Angel program’s inception in August 1997, nearly 1,500 professional truck drivers have been recognized as TCA Highway Angels for exemplary kindness, courtesy, and courage displayed while on the job. Thanks to the program’s presenting sponsor, EpicVue, and supporting sponsors, DriverFacts and Northland Insurance, TCA is able to showcase outstanding drivers like Barkey.

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