The Truckload Carriers Association has named Warren Brownlee, a professional truck driver with ABF Freight System, Inc., a Highway Angel, for stopping to assist young motorists who lost control of their vehicle on a busy highway.
One evening shortly after Thanksgiving, Brownlee was heading out of Dallas on his way to Little Rock, Arkansas. It was dark and rainy and the roads were a little slick. He had only gone a couple miles when he came up around a curve and saw a black pickup disabled and sitting sideways in the far left lane. The truck’s rear end was butted up against the median and the passenger side was facing oncoming traffic with its nose extending into the middle lane.
“It was a black truck on a black night on black pavement,” shares Brownlee. “I realized someone was going to hit them.”
He slowed and carefully positioned his tractor and the two trailers he was hauling in a modified serpentine, or “S,” configuration to protect the pickup and the two occupants who were standing outside the truck. He then called 911. The driver of the pickup was a young male who was with his girlfriend. They looked to be just 16 or 17 years old. The young man thanked Brownlee for stopping and shook his hand. He said he had lost control on the slick pavement. Brownlee was impressed by the young man’s gesture.
The driver’s father arrived on the scene a short while later and also thanked him for stopping and helping. In doing so, he was able to prevent the situation from becoming far worse. Brownlee is humble about what he did.
“I would hope that if it were my kid, that someone would stop and help them,” he shares with TCA. For him, the situation struck a chord of knowingness. His own daughter was killed a couple years ago in a traffic accident. The other driver was allegedly under the influence of a chemical substance.
For his willingness to assist his fellow drivers, TCA has presented Brownlee with a certificate, patch, lapel pin, and truck decals.
His employer has also received a certificate acknowledging their driver as a Highway Angel. Since the program’s inception in August 1997, hundreds of drivers have been recognized as Highway Angels for the exemplary kindness, courtesy, and courage they have displayed while on the job. EpicVue sponsors TCA’s Highway Angel program.