“I Didn’t See Color, I Saw a Human Being,” Says Man Who Saved Trucker From Toppled Rig
Philadelphia, PA – A man training to be a truck driver sprung into action to save a trucker last week after high winds blew his rig over on a bridge and left it dangerously pinned up against the railing.
According to local news outlet Fox 29, the dramatic rescue occurred on Wednesday, June 3, along the Girard Point Bridge in Philadelphia.
Truck driving student Wysem Irby was traveling northbound in his personal vehicle when he came upon a tractor-trailer that had been toppled over on its passenger side by reported wind gusts of 60 mph.
Irby says he pulled his vehicle over and began assessing the driver’s condition amid the pouring rain and high winds.
“It was very scary,” Irby told Fox 29. “I’m not afraid to admit that. The door was missing. It was completely hanging off and he (trucker) saw nothing but water. At that point my heart was basically in my pants because it’s a human being crying out for his life.”
According to the report, two others stopped to help Irby provide emergency assistance to the trucker and the trucker’s pet dog.
“I just promised him I wouldn’t leave, I’m not going to go, I’m not going to leave, I’m going to stay right here with you the whole time,” Irby said.
After waiving down another truck, Irby climbed on top and helped pull the trucker and the dog to safety.
The dramatic and touching moments between Irby and the trucker following the rescue were caught on video and shared by Fox 29 reporter Kelly Rule.
They pulled over.
They rushed over to the driver on a windy bridge, hundreds of feet up.
Wysem stood on another truck and
helped pull the driver and his dog to safety.This cell phone video captured some of the moments after @FOX29philly pic.twitter.com/L4lIROXaGP
— Kelly Rule (@KellyRuleTV) June 8, 2020
“We just held each other and embraced each other because that’s what we needed,” Irby said.
For Irby, who is an African American, and the trucker, who is caucasian, the incident serves to remind us all that we have much more in common than not.
“We’re all humans. We all hurt. We all feel emotion, but when you put color on that it gets blurry. I didn’t see color. I saw a human being,” Irby declared.
At a time like this in our nation, it is certainly a great reminder there is much more that unites us than divides us.
Photos courtesy of Twitter/@KellyRuleTV
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Leave it up to the media to inject race into a situation that has zero need for the race card to be played.
i think this is a wonderful moment in trucking history.
One trucker helping another with no assumptions about one another based on race, especially with everything going on in this country right now.
For me the glass is half full on this story.
I’ve been known to sing and write in my spare time, so let me just say, in this case, i think the title fits the song.
That’s saying alot, as my usual nature is to be grumpy, cynical, and pessimistic.
If Seth Mcfarlane and Louis CK had a love child, that’d be me.
Lol