Racing to rescue couple in SUV crash earns trucker ‘angel’ award

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This article was published 07/08/2023 (1156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg trucker has been christened a “highway angel” for saving two people in the U.S.

Mariusz (Mario) Tyszuk, who is originally from Poland, was given the Truckload Carriers Association’s “highway angel” award for rescuing a couple who were trapped in their SUV after a crash on July 19.

While driving on Interstate 35 near Denton, Texas, Tyszuk, who works for Bison Transport, witnessed an SUV in the opposite lane go airborne. After the vehicle rolled onto the passenger side, Tyszuk immediately parked his truck and got out to help.

“The SUV hit the ground. All you could see was only dust,” Tyszuk said. “At this moment, I realized I was going to be the first responder.”

When he approached the vehicle, he saw a man and his wife trapped in the front seats. Thinking on his toes, Tyszuk pounded on the corner of the cracked windshield to loosen and remove it.

From there, he helped the male passenger escape from the vehicle and pulled his wife, who was lying on her side, out from the passenger seat. After discovering her leg was bleeding profusely, Tyszuk removed his shirt to use as a tourniquet.

“I had no choice. I had to act quickly,” he said. “I took my T-shirt off, I split it in half and I quickly put the T-shirt over the leg wound and tied it as hard as I could.”

“At this moment, I realized I was going to be the first responder.”

With the help of a nurse who had stopped, Tyszuk continued to tend to the woman’s wound until ambulances arrived around 20 minutes later.

After hearing he’d won a Highway Angel award for his efforts, Tyszuk was humbled.

“It’s hard to describe, to be honest. I’m still processing (it),” he said.

The association has granted the award to nearly 1,300 truckers, who display acts of kindness and courage, since 1997.

“It’s an opportunity for us to get to highlight the amazing drivers that don’t necessarily get the attention they deserve,” Emily Sexauer, marketing co-ordinator for the association, said.

“The amount of people that probably witnessed or saw some of these incidents happen and didn’t do anything shows that these drivers are extraordinary in their courage.”

A trucker could receive the accolade for anything from helping in a roadside medical emergency to locating missing children.

When Sexauer and the team heard about Tyszuk’s heroic story from Bison Transport, it was an easy decision to issue the award to him.

“What he did for helping the couple that crashed their SUV in Denton, Texas, was incredible,” Sexaeur said.

Tyszuk, who has been driving trucks for a quarter century, said he became a truck driver to get paid to see the world while giving back to his community. While the long-haul trucking journey is solitary, he feels a sense of connection and mutual dependence with drivers on the road.

“As a professional driver, we are one big family on the highway. As soon as you’re on the highway, you depend on the next person,” he said. “I do everything that is possible to help.”

The association honours 50 North American truckers with the award each year, Sexauer said.

In February, Winnipegger Dawna Jacobsen, who drives for Erb Transport Ltd., was named a “highway angel” for stopping to help a 12-year-old snowmobiler who had been hit by a car in December 2022.

cierra.bettens@freepress.mb.ca