Life
Tow truck driver spots a wrecked blue car off the road. Then he hears a mumble for help
It's a good thing this man stayed calm when he realized what was going on. He deserves an award!
Christina Cordova
03.28.17

Every once in a while there comes a story that makes you believe there truly are guardian angels floating over everyone’s shoulders, and that everything does happen for a reason. This story about how one woman’s car malfunction led to the rescue of 23-year-old husband and father, Steven Ackerman, is one of them.

Robert Hooper, a driver for All Star Automotive Repair and Towing, was out on what he thought was another ordinary call to help 69-year-old Janie Smith, whose gas pedal just gave out on her. While he was going through his routine of loading the car up onto the ramp, he heard Janie say, “Oh, there’s a blue car over there!”

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USA TODAY
Source:
USA TODAY

Sure enough, when he investigated, there was a blue car down in the ditch. Somehow, despite there being no visible signs of an accident, a small sedan had made its way down the hill.

“He missed all the road signs, didn’t knock anything over. Just kind of mowed some grass down,” Robert said, incredulous.

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USA TODAY
Source:
USA TODAY

The car was badly smashed, scrunched in the front like an accordion. To the average observer, it appears to be a fatal wreck. And that is precisely what Robert thought, especially when he approached nearer and thought he saw a body hanging out of the driver’s side door. But then he heard a low mumble for help, and that’s when he sprang into action.

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USA TODAY
Source:
USA TODAY

Though his emotions were on high from seeing someone who he thought was dead turn out to be alive, Hooper knew he needed to act quickly if he wanted to save the man’s life. While Smith called for help, Hooper did everything he could to make the man more comfortable, and to make it easier for paramedics to remove him from the car once they did arrive. “There was a bunch of sticks and everything just hanging off, and it was all in the cab of the car, and that’s what I was ripping off…just trying to make it better for him.” In the end, Hooper did much more than “make it better for him,” though–he saved the man’s life.

If you’re not a believer in fate, this story is enough to change your mind. Had Janie’s gas pedal chosen to give out even ten feet farther down the road, or just a minute sooner, Ackerman may never have been found.

“It keeps bothering my head,” said Robert. “If I wouldn’t have walked down there…it’s not a good thought…Who, or when, would he have got found, if he would have got found.”

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USA TODAY
Source:
USA TODAY

“I’ve always been a believer,” Janie says after paramedics took Ackerman – later identified by his mother-in-law – to a nearby hospital, “but, I’m a believer that I was here to help that man.”

Thanks to Janie, Robert, and Steven’s guardian angel, Steven was able to return to his family within a week. The universe works in mysterious ways, and thankfully it does; otherwise, miracles such as the one you’re about to witness would not be possible.

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[Source: USA TODAY]

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