Texas Trucker Named Highway Angel for Rescuing Trooper

A Texas truck driver, Gary Wilburn was named a Highway Angel for offering aid to an injured Arkansas state trooper after a serious crash. The Truckload Carriers Association bestowed the honor and shared the story. On October 4, Wilburn was driving slowly in heavy traffic near Forrest City, Arkansas when he came across a crashed State Trooper’s vehicle on the side of the road.

Every other motorist was passing the vehicle without stopping to look inside but Wilburn knew he was stopping. “I was in traffic for an hour before I saw the trooper. Some of the stuff I noticed was insane—no one’s calling the police, cars are driving by, and no one stopped to help him” he said. Wilburn, who drives for Anderson Trucking, saw the officer pinned inside his vehicle, called 911 and reported what he found.

“He was banged up really bad, lower legs were broken, upper legs were broken and he was just pinned in. His legs were crushed really badly” he said. He then stayed with the trapped officer until emergency personnel arrived and he was airlifted to a local hospital. “I’m that idiot that runs into burning buildings and pulls out pets. When I see something like that, I can’t keep going on about my day” he said.

The unidentified officer was flown to Regional One Hospital in Memphis where he is still recovering, the Arkansas Highway Patrol said. The injured officer has been with the highway patrol since 2014. Since the Highway Angel program’s inception in August 1997, nearly 1,300 professional truck drivers have been recognized as Highway Angels for exemplary kindness, courtesy, and courage displayed while on the job.