Alabama driver named Highway Angel for helping search for missing baby

Steve ElliottSteve Elliott

An Alabama truck driver has been named a Highway Angel by the Truckload Carriers Association for searching for a missing baby after the mother’s car wrecked into a creek.

Steve Elliott of Phenix City, Ala., a driver for RCT of Charlotte, N.C., was pulling out of a rest stop on I-65 on his way to Mobile when he saw a bloody and distressed woman crawling up a steep slope onto the shoulder of the road. Elliott called 911 and got out to check on the woman, at which point he was told her car had left the road and crashed in the creek, and her baby was still in the car.

Elliott ran down to the creek and found the car half-submerged in about four feet of water. He couldn’t open any of the doors, so he crawled through the broken windshield and found a car seat but no baby. Elliott started searching the area and, after about 10 minutes, firefighters arrived and began to search for the child as well.

 

After nearly an hour of searching, the woman, who was in shock from the accident, remembered the baby was at home with her husband.

“I was so relieved that the baby was with the dad, I was able to breathe again,” Elliott said.

Elliott has been driving for 16 years. For his willingness to help, TCA presented him with a certificate, patch, lapel pin and truck decal. RCT also received a certificate acknowledging Elliott as a Highway Angel.

Click here to see more TCA Highway Angel stories.