FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A truck driver is being hailed a hero after he spotted a slow-moving cement truck swerving along Interstate 595 in Broward County and jumped into action.
Officials said the driver, who was found unconscious inside the cement truck, later succumbed to her injuries.
“We did everything we can to try and help her,” said good Samaritan Nick Knox.
But the Florida Highway Patrol said Knox’s quick thinking likely prevented a further tragedy from unfolding on the highway, Friday morning.
Knox said he was heading along his normal route in rush hour traffic when he spotted the cement truck.
Knox, who has been driving trucks for 30 years, noticed the cement truck was going at about 5 mph and swerving in traffic.
Knox said he drove alongside the truck and saw the driver was unconscious.
“She was slumped over, foaming at the mouth, and then I stopped my truck in the middle of traffic,” he said. “I opened my door. I told cars to stop, and I ran and opened her door, and I grabbed the air brakes and stopped the truck.”
With cars speeding by, Knox used his truck to block traffic while he and an off-duty first responder rendered aid.
“We couldn’t get a pulse, and I called 911,” he said, “and I was praying for this lady to just please make it.”
Paramedics rushed the woman to the hospital, but she would not survive.
Now FHP officials are praising Knox’s heroic actions.
“[The cement truck] could have gone over the median wall,” said FHP Lt. Yanko Reyes. “God knows what would have happened if it wouldn’t have been for the quick actions of this driver.”
“I wasn’t worried about my life. I was trying to save another life,” said Knox, “because that’s all that mattered.”
As of Friday night, troopers have not released the woman’s identity.
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