A Canadian driver has been honored for his efforts at the scene of fatal accident in Saskatchewan.
The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) recently named truck driver Darrin Gillmore from Barrie, Ontario, Canada, a TCA Highway Angel for stopping to help rescue several passengers from a fatal, multi-vehicle accident. This is Gillmore’s second TCA Highway Angel award. He drives for Bison Transport out of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
TCA explains:
Darrin GillmoreOn May 2 at 4 p.m., Gillmore and his trainee, Omen Li, were traveling near Sintaluta, Saskatchewan, when they came upon a two-vehicle accident with three people involved. The accident had taken place at the corner of Hwy 606 and Hwy 1. Gillmore estimates he and Li came upon the accident within 60 seconds of it happening.
“I had my student pull over, so I grabbed my fire extinguisher, my bolt cutters and my first aid kit,” said Gillmore. “We went to the accident scene and there was a lady that was fatally injured.”
A man involved in the wreck was out of his vehicle, so Gillmore and Li helped him lay down and get comfortable until EMS arrived. Then the men helped cut the horn on one car and cut the battery to prevent a fire. There was a teenage boy in the accident, who had been traveling with his now-deceased grandmother.
“We tried to keep the kid calm—obviously he knew his grandma was dead,” Gillmore said. The men helped him out of his vehicle and tried to keep him calm and assess his injuries.
“We comforted him until the EMS showed up and they took over from there,” he said.
Gillmore has been driving trucks for 20 years and has been at the scene of about three fatalities a year, he estimated.
“I’ve been to many, many, many accidents and I always stop and I always help—I just do my best,” he said.
Darrin Gillmore
