DRIVER EARNS HIGHWAY ANGEL WINGS FOR SEARCHING FOR MISSING BABY AFTER MOTORISTS’ CAR WRECKS INTO CREEK

12/30/2015
Alexandria, Virginia

Steve Elliott of Phenix City, Alabama, a professional truck driver for RCT, of Charlotte, North Carolina, has been named a Highway Angel by the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA). He is being recognized for searching for a missing baby after the mother’s car wrecks into a creek.

On August 24, 2015, Elliott was pulling out of a rest stop on I-65, on his way to Mobile, Alabama when he saw a lady crawling up a steep slope on to the shoulder of the road; she was bloody and in distress. Elliott called 911 and got out to check on the woman. She told him her car had left the road and crashed in the creek and then she said her baby was still in the car. Elliott immediately took off his shoes and ran down into the creek to find the car it was half way submerged in about 4 feet of water. He couldn’t open any of the doors so he crawled through the broken windshield. In the car he found a car seat but there was no baby in it. Elliott started searching the creek and the surrounding area for the missing child. After about 10 minutes, firefighters arrived on the scene and also began to search for the child.

For nearly an hour he and the firefighters searched frantically for the child. The women who was in shock from the crash suddenly remembered that the baby was at home with her husband. “I was so relieved that the baby was with the dad, I was able to breathe again,” said Elliott.

Elliott has been driving for 16 years and enjoys all the different people he gets to meet. When asked about this incident he said, “I don’t consider myself a “hero”, I didn’t even think about it, I just did it.”

For his willingness to help, TCA has presented Steve with a certificate, patch, lapel pin, and truck decal. RCT also received a certificate acknowledging Elliott as a Highway Angel.

EpicVue sponsors TCA’s Highway Angel program. Since the program’s inception in August 1997, hundreds of drivers have been recognized as Highway Angels for the unusual kindness, courtesy, and courage they have shown others while on the job.