The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) has recognized Jacob Picklesimer, a truck driver from Resaca, GA, as a Highway Angel. Picklesimer, who works for U.S. Xpress based in Chattanooga, TN, stopped to help a stranded driver who had been involved in a car accident along a mountain pass in Polk County, TN.
On July 26, 2023, Picklesimer was traveling on Highway 64 when he spotted a man sitting on the white line of the road, in a dangerous position.
“This seemed a little different,” Picklesimer said, so he pulled off the road about 50 yards from where the man was located. “I went back there and the first thing I asked was, are you OK?”
The man found himself stranded in the middle of the night, injured and without any means of communication, after rolling his car onto its side about 4 hours earlier. Trapped in a nearby ditch, he had no other choice but to escape through the passenger window. He lost his phone in the accident, and his dog who had been in the car with him had passed in the crash. With the pain of potentially broken ribs, the man found himself sitting on the side of the road, waiting and hoping for help to arrive.
“I can’t believe that nobody stopped,” he said. “It would only take a minute to stop and roll down your window and say ‘hey, do you need to use a phone or something?’ I wouldn’t want to sit out there by myself with my dead dog for four hours—I just felt really bad for him.”
Picklesimer swiftly offered his phone to the man, who immediately tried dialing his wife and father. He then contacted an ambulance and waited with the injured man on the roadside, surrounded by speeding cars. The crash victim and his father were deeply grateful for the assistance, and Picklesimer expressed no hesitation in helping the man.
“This is normal behavior for me—I didn’t think I was doing anything,” Picklesimer said.
Source: Highway Angel
