LOUISVILLE, Kentucky- A Texas truck driver - called a “mountain of a man”
by the family whose lives he saved - was named Thursday night as the 22nd
Goodyear North American Highway Hero.
Rick Dent - a 6-foot, 300-pound, Diana, Texas, driver for Groendyke
Transport Inc. - was credited with coming to the aid of Bob Strickland and
his small children, Megan and Paul, when Strickland’s car swerved to miss
a deer and landed in a water-filled ditch.
The accident occurred July 14, 2004, in a 6-foot-deep ditch teeming with
snakes, along U.S. Highway 84 near Jena, La.
Strickland said, “The car was filling up with water, and a man in a big
red truck pulls up, jumps out, runs to the water’s edge, looks at me and
says ‘Are you OK?’
“No, I can’t get out and the car is sinking,” Strickland said to Dent.
Snakes were swimming in the 40-foot-wide ditch, and his 3-year-old
daughter, Megan, was screaming. Strickland said Dent swam to the car.
“This huge man pulled the door open about 3 inches, but it was stuck.
Suddenly, my daughter screamed again, and he grabs the door and pulls it
off the car like it is made of cardboard,” Strickland said.
Dent took Megan and Paul to land, and returned for Strickland, whose foot
was lodged under the dash. Dent dove and freed Strickland’s foot; then he
carried him to safety. “This man saved our lives. The car sank before he
got me to the bank. I have a new respect for truck drivers,” Strickland
said.
Dent accepted the award, a $10,000 U.S. Savings Bond and a gigantic
specially designed size 17 Goodyear Highway Hero ring for his nearly 3-1/2
inch diameter finger, during the Mid America Trucking Show.
“Bob Strickland described Rick Dent as a huge man, in a big red truck. He
saw Rick Dent as larger than life. . .someone with a big heart. Other
motorists may have continued on their way, but Rick Dent stopped to help
someone in need. Because of that decision, three lives were saved, and
Rick has earned the right to be called a hero,” said Donn Kramer, director
of marketing for Goodyear commercial tire systems.
Founded by Goodyear in 1983, the Highway Hero program recognizes
professional truck drivers and the often unnoticed, life-saving rescues
and roadside assistance they provide as their jobs take them across North
America.
Dent was selected along with three other truck drivers as finalists for
the 2004 award. Other finalists included:
The accident occurred July 14, 2004, in a 6-foot-deep ditch teeming with
snakes, along U.S. Highway 84 near Jena, La.
Strickland said, “The car was filling up with water, and a man in a big
red truck pulls up, jumps out, runs to the water’s edge, looks at me and
says ‘Are you OK?’
“No, I can’t get out and the car is sinking,” Strickland said to Dent.
Snakes were swimming in the 40-foot-wide ditch, and his 3-year-old
daughter, Megan, was screaming. Strickland said Dent swam to the car.
“This huge man pulled the door open about 3 inches, but it was stuck.
Suddenly, my daughter screamed again, and he grabs the door and pulls it
off the car like it is made of cardboard,” Strickland said.
Dent took Megan and Paul to land, and returned for Strickland, whose foot
was lodged under the dash. Dent dove and freed Strickland’s foot; then he
carried him to safety. “This man saved our lives. The car sank before he
got me to the bank. I have a new respect for truck drivers,” Strickland
said.
Dent accepted the award, a $10,000 U.S. Savings Bond and a gigantic
specially designed size 17 Goodyear Highway Hero ring for his nearly 3-1/2
inch diameter finger, during the Mid America Trucking Show.
“Bob Strickland described Rick Dent as a huge man, in a big red truck. He
saw Rick Dent as larger than life. . .someone with a big heart. Other
motorists may have continued on their way, but Rick Dent stopped to help
someone in need. Because of that decision, three lives were saved, and
Rick has earned the right to be called a hero,” said Donn Kramer, director
of marketing for Goodyear commercial tire systems.
Founded by Goodyear in 1983, the Highway Hero program recognizes
professional truck drivers and the often unnoticed, life-saving rescues
and roadside assistance they provide as their jobs take them across North
America.
Dent was selected along with three other truck drivers as finalists for
the 2004 award. Other finalists included:
- Jose Ogas Jr., of Fayetteville, N.C., driver for TMC Transportation - While traveling on Interstate 70 in Pennsylvania, Ogas saved a man and his daughter from their burning car on Dec. 31, 2003. Ogas applied his Army training as a member of a combat lifesaving team when he administered first aid until paramedics arrived.
- Pat Foraker, of Quaker City, Ohio, driver for Transport Corporation of America - Foraker and his wife Brenda saved the lives of two women in a two-car crash on April 15, 2004.
- David Tucker, of La Grande, Ore., driver for Seneca Foods Corp. - Tucker saved the life of a female California Highway Patrol officer, who was brutally attacked during a traffic stop on Dec. 2, 2003.
