ASHLAND, Ohio — The driver of a tractor-trailer is recovering in the ICU after he was rescued by some bystanders who witnessed his truck crash into a barricade and guardrail.
It happened around 7 p.m. Wednesday on Interstate 71 near mile marker 181 in Milton Township in Ashland County.
According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, a 71-year-old man named Leenard from Cuyahoga Falls was heading north on I-71 when he drove off the left side of the road, crossing into the oncoming southbound lanes, and then struck a concrete barricade and a guardrail.
Cameras mounted on other trucks captured terrifying video of the semi veering across the highway before the crash. Remarkably, no other vehicles were struck.
Some Good Samaritans who witnessed the crash jumped into action to check on the driver, who was unresponsive.
First on the scene was 54-year-old Kevin Grace from suburban Cincinnati. He was heading home after watching his daughter play a college softball game at the University of Akron.
"It was state of shock, really. It was difficult to process everything that had just happened, Grace said. "This is something you certainly don't see every day, or expect to see every day. You had a semi-trailer come across the median, come directly into incoming traffic."
Grace, a business executive with no medical training, realized he had to take quick action.
He jumped into the cab of the semi to help the driver who didn't have a pulse.
"He was slouched over in the middle of the cab, tied up in the steering wheel and that's when I dialed 911," Grace said.
Grace gave a lot of credit to the 911 dispatcher who kept him calm and provided him with constant instructions, stressing that Grace needed to get the driver out of the truck.
"There were two truckers that had pulled over at that point who came to the truck and they were down on the ground. I passed Leenard out of the truck to those gentlemen," Grace said.
With instructions from the 911 operator, Grace started CPR doing both chest compressions and rescue breathing.
An off-duty nurse pulled over and also provided CPR, as did on-duty Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Kevin Peshek.
"We were switching back and forth and the male bystander (Grace) was doing rescue breaths in between chest compressions," Peshek said.
CPR continued for a few minutes before Leenard regained a pulse.
"The nurse was checking for that and she said that we do, in fact, have a rhythm and a faint pulse," Grace said.
The trucker was taken to Ohio Health Mansfield Hospital. He was listed in critical condition as of Friday afternoon, according to a hospital spokesperson.
Peshek said he was just doing his job that night, but he feels the team of Good Samaritans are heroes.
"The people that stopped— stopped on their own— they weren't even working or anything. Those people really did something above and beyond," Peshek said.
Grace stressed it took a team effort to rescue the driver.
"Without each of those people being there, I don't know what would have happened to Leenard," Grace said.
Grace said the whole ordeal was surreal and scary, but he continues to think about Leenard and pray for him.
"The first thing I thought about when I woke up yesterday morning was Leenard and I still continue to think about Leenard."
