"I just stood there and took it; that's all"

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

With those modest words, a genuine hero describes how he put himself in the path of a speeding tractor-trailer to save the lives of a state trooper and members of a Highway Department work crew.

Kevin Sullivan was the driver of an arrow truck for Mass. Highway – one of those trucks with the giant arrow sign telling motorists to change lanes to avoid a work crew. What his truck also has – or had, it’s a crumpled jumble of wreckage now – is a shock-absorbing system between the sign and the driver’s cab.

@Boston Herald

Even as the speeding semi barreled closer and closer in his rear view mirror, a humble MassHighway hero says he didn’t think twice when he swerved his truck in the big rig’s path to save a state trooper from being crushed to death inside his cruiser.

“I thought, ‘I’m gonna get hit. It’s my job,’ ” Kevin Sullivan said last night from his hospital room at Boston Medical Center, where he’s recovering from Wednesday’s crash. “I’m the first line of defense of the workers.” 

Sullivan, 59, was on Interstate 495 in Middleboro, slowly following a pothole crew and a state police cruiser in his heavy-duty crash truck - designed to protect work crews from cars - when he realized the tractor-trailer going 60 mph wasn’t slowing down.

Now think about that. You’re sitting in your vehicle and suddenly you see mega-tons of DEATH barreling toward you. Only seconds to escape from its path. Only seconds to choose what to do. What would you do?

@Boston Globe

Kevin M. Sullivan saw the tragedy coming at him in his rear-view mirror on Interstate 495. But he didn’t think twice about putting his truck into the way.

“I just stood there and took it; that’s all,” Sullivan, 59, said in an interview last night in his room at Boston Medical Center , where he was listed in fair condition . "When I looked back in the mirror all I saw is the cab, the door, the silver of the box, and that’s when I said, ‘I’m going to get hit.’ "

Now think about that. Not only did he choose to put his own life on the line to save the others – he had the presence of mind in that fleeting moment to realign his truck so it wouldn’t plow into the cruiser.

@Boston Herald

As the seconds ticked by, Sullivan saw everything in slow motion. He angled his crash truck to blunt the impact to the cruiser, where trooper Michael Fitzgerald sat helpless.

The semi plowed into Sullivan’s truck, sending it toppling down an embankment, and then the rig smashed into the back end of the Fitzgerald’s cruiser. 

Now think about that. Think about a semi at 60 m.p.h. slamming into your vehicle, and how much force there was in that initial hit, so much force that after mangling the crash truck and throwing it over the guardrail and down an embankment, the semi still had enough left to pancake the rear of the trooper’s cruiser.

@Boston Globe

Sullivan’s truck was hit so hard that it was pushed nearly 200 feet, then flipped end-over-end three times, over a guardrail and into a ditch along I-495 in Middleborough.

"On the third end-over roll I yelled out: ‘Stop the ride! I’ve had enough,’ " he said. “It was better than anything Universal Studios has.”

[snip]

The tractor-trailer crushed the rear of Trooper Michael Fitzgerald’s cruiser, but the officer was treated and released Wednesday night, just hours after the accident.

Scroll down on this page for some pictures. I can tell you what the TV news showed was a relatively unscathed vehicle from the front bumper to the rear of the front seats, and a crushed mess of mangled metal behind that, with the front wheels of the tractor buried in it.

@Boston Globe

Sullivan said he intended to take the full brunt of the tractor-trailer’s impact, because it’s his job to protect others on work details.

“The only thing I felt bad about is that I didn’t stop it from hitting the cruiser,” he said. “That’s what my job was, to keep it from hitting the cruiser.”

Sullivan said he believes that if the tractor-trailer had traveled another few inches forward, the trooper would have been killed. “The frame of the truck. . . was only 4 inches from the back of the front seat,” he said.

And the guy is looking forward to getting back to work – if they’ll trust him with another truck after he smashed up the one he was driving so thoroughly.

@Boston Herald

“I don’t know if they’ll give me a truck (again),” he said about going back to work.

Somehow, I think they will.

[Zabali_Clawbane]

Yes, that man is a hero! I just hope he doesn’t end up going the same route other heros have, the fame spoiling their lives in the end. (Like the guy who rescued baby Jessica from the well in Texas?)

[Zoe]

I couldn’t make out much from the photos of the accident, but I needed to see that man’s picture anyway. Needed to be reminded of the face of character.

That post was good for what ails me tonight!

[Zabali_Clawbane]

This article has a decent picture of the semi and the police car.

[Turek]

I saw something last week or the week before that gave me a similar, “holy cow, we’re not all doomed” feeling.

From here:

While waiting for a downtown Manhattan train, Autrey saw Cameron Hollopeter, a 19-year-old film student, suffering from some kind of medical episode. After stumbling down the platform, Hollopeter, of Littleton, Mass., fell onto the tracks with a train on its way into the station.

Autrey, traveling with his two young daughters, knew he had to do something.

“If I let him stay there by himself, he’s going to be dismembered,” the Navy veteran remembered thinking.

He jumped down to the tracks, a few feet below platform level, and rolled with the young man into a drainage trough – cold, wet and more than a little unpleasant smelling – between the rails as the southbound No. 1 train came into the 137th Street/City College station.

Allowing a subway train to pass over you while you hold down a convulsing complete stranger… that takes some major cajones.

[Ferret_Herder]

@Zabali_Clawbane

This article has a decent picture of the semi and the police car.

Damn. Even hitting this guy’s truck, that semi damned near killed the police officer anyway. He’s right, a few more inches further with the semi and I think the story would have been very different.

[Ferret_Herder]

@Turek

I saw something last week or the week before that gave me a similar, “holy cow, we’re not all doomed” feeling.

From here:

Allowing a subway train to pass over you while you hold down a convulsing complete stranger… that takes some major cajones.

Whoops, missed this one - I’d read some other articles that said there were only 2-4 inches of clearance between him and the lowest part of the train in that spot. Amazing.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

It makes me very happy to hear stories like this, to know that my fellow humans are still capable of such acts.

[LSLGuy]

@GingerOfTheNorth

It makes me very happy to hear stories like this, to know that my fellow humans are still capable of such acts.

Never confuse hate radio with reality. There are only 2 jerks per thousand. But they get all the press.

[Gleena]

There’s a 16 year old kid in Sydney who’s a hero, too - I remember thinking the same thing, that kids today aren’t as horrible as I keep hearing.

From here:

The scene: No.5 platform, Central Station; in a narrow and dangerous space between the platform and the wheels of a train; on the track fill, next to a steel rail, an electric train spitting steam on him from its brakes.

And an 85-year-old woman lying with her hands across the steel tracks. Dazed, moaning with fright and shock.

“I yelled at my friends to tell them we were down there,” Patrick said. “They ran and told them not to move the train.”

As Patrick and his friends approached, she slipped, grasped the door jamb for support and slid between the platform and the track. Her elderly husband could not help.

“Her arms were skinned and bleeding. Her hands were across the rail. The first thing I did was pull them back. She was stunned, shocked and frightened and I kept telling her she was going to be alright. I didn’t think to ask her name.” Nor did she ask his.

Patrick stayed with the woman during the 20 minutes it took for ambulance and rescuers to lift her onto the platform. When the drama was ended, Patrick and his two friends set about what they had come to do, spend the day sightseeing.

Great kid!

Cheers,
G

[medstar]

What I’d like to know is what happened to the driver of the tractor-trailer? Was he on drugs, drunk, or incapacitated by a sudden illness?

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

@medstar

What I’d like to know is what happened to the driver of the tractor-trailer? Was he on drugs, drunk, or incapacitated by a sudden illness?

Here’s the latest info I found, from the Boston Herald:

The driver of a fully-loaded semi that slammed into a state trooper’s cruiser and a MassHighway truck, injuring two people, was charged this afternoon with speeding in a construction zone and other violations, state police said.

Duane Sylvia, 43, of Middleboro, has been cited with operating to endanger, impeded operation, failure to yield to men and equipment in the roadway and speeding in a construction zone. The crash is still under investigation, state police said.

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

@Gleena

There’s a 16 year old kid in Sydney who’s a hero, too - I remember thinking the same thing, that kids today aren’t as horrible as I keep hearing.

From here:

Great kid!

Cheers,
G

Wow! Great kid for damn sure!

[Zachlee]

Now if only we could put people like this in charge of a few things…
Thanks for sharing, but mundane and pointless, no.

[633squadron]

@Zachlee

Now if only we could put people like this in charge of a few things…
Thanks for sharing, but mundane and pointless, no.

Yeah, the problem with that thought is that these people are too smart to want to be in charge of things.

The only person you want to be in charge of things is the person who does not want the job. Cuz that’s the only person who won’t let his or her ambition and lack of humility get in the way.

I really admire the MA “arrow” truck driver. He volunteered to be in a job that, in the end, requires him to throw himself in front of a bullet. MA Highway Dept.'s version of a Secret Service agent, but without any of the perks. Whatever his pay is, it’s not enough.

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

@633squadron

I really admire the MA “arrow” truck driver. He volunteered to be in a job that, in the end, requires him to throw himself in front of a bullet. MA Highway Dept.'s version of a Secret Service agent, but without any of the perks. Whatever his pay is, it’s not enough.

And if I recall correctly, he’s only a couple of years away from when he could retire. If he’d bailed instead of heading into danger, who’d have blamed him?

Definitely gets my Hero of the Year award.

[sturmhauke]

@Gleena

Great kid!

Cheers,
G

What I want to know is, why the hell is there such a large gap between the train and platform that someone can fall into it? It would have to be at least a foot for an adult to fall through, which is just asking for trouble.

[Wee_Bairn]

Yes, that is the true definition of heroism, not like “little Timmy O’Toole fell down a well, he’s a hero”- risking your own life to save someones else’s.

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

You make a good point, Wee Bairn. The word “hero” is used way too freely, applied to people just because they survived something awful, cheapened by overuse.

Then you encounter someone like the heroes we’re talking about, and the word regains its luster.

[Ghanima]

One of my favorite websites - get out your kleenex.

Animal Heroes: Purina’s Animal Hall of Fame:
http://www.purina.ca/halloffame/default.asp?year=2006