PROFESSIONAL TRUCK DRIVER, JIM HOFFMAN, EARNS HIGHWAY ANGEL WINGS

04/24/2007
Alexandria, Virginia

The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) recently recognized Jim Hoffman, a professional truck driver with John Christner Trucking, Inc., as a Highway Angel for his willingness to stop and help a stranded motorist in single-digit temperatures.

In the darkness of an early winter morning, Hoffman was traveling eastbound on Hwy 84 near Scranton, Pennsylvania, when he caught sight of a faint blue light flashing in the middle of the road. Unable to detect what it was, Hoffman slowed down and moved to the shoulder of the road. “As I slowed down, I heard a woman scream for me to stop,” he said.

After securing his vehicle, Hoffman investigated the site and found a young woman, whose cell phone was emitting the blue light, standing in the road yelling. She said her car had rolled over, and Hoffman, wanting to get her out of the single-digit temperatures, brought her into his rig and called 911.

“When she lifted up her leg to climb into the truck, I saw it was bleeding,” Hoffman said. He found a compress to stop the bleeding and asked the woman what had happened. That’s when he learned three male friends had been in the vehicle with her.

Hoffman quickly grabbed his jacket and a flashlight, instructed the woman to “just sit there,” and hurried into the cold darkness. After crossing the tree-studded median, Hoffman heard a voice moaning in pain and headed in that direction. He soon came upon all three young men. One had been thrown from the vehicle and was lying in the snow, and the other two were roaming around disoriented and bleeding from cuts to the head. Knowing it was dangerous to move someone involved in an accident, Hoffman decided to wait for the paramedics to tend to the injured man in the snow, but he was concerned that the victim had no shoes or coat and was wearing only pants and a tee shirt.

“I knew he was cold because I was getting pretty cold, so I brought him a blanket from my truck,” Hoffman said. “Then I got one of the other guys into my truck, but the third guy was in a daze and I couldn’t get him to do anything.”

While waiting for the paramedics to arrive, Hoffman spent the remainder of the time hurrying back and forth from the victims in his truck to the suffering young man in the snow. “I felt so bad for him,” Hoffman said. “He kept asking me not to leave him.”

Once on the scene, the emergency crew succeeded in getting the wandering man into the ambulance and hurriedly worked on the four victims, all of whom were in their late teens or early twenties. Shortly after the incident, one of the paramedics wrote a letter to Hoffman’s company commending him, because “his quick thinking really made a difference for the well-being of strangers.”

Hoffman, who has young adult children of his own, said, “Someday if something happens to my kids, I hope someone would stop for them.” This was not the first incident where Hoffman has assisted travelers in need, and, he said, “I’ll do it again, too.”

A jovial man with a sense of humor about life, Hoffman joked about a state trooper interviewing him for information at the accident scene. “It’s the first time I ever invited a state trooper into my truck,” he said laughing.

Hoffman received a Highway Angel lapel pin, certificate, and patch for his efforts, and his employer, John Christner Trucking, also received a certificate for acknowledging a Highway Angel in their midst.

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.