Nothing beats an everyday hero story, and this week’s Feel-Good Friday is about a man and his heroic timing and acts. Because of his being in the right place, at the right time, and having the right tools, he saved lives and made a difference.
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Last week, a Milwaukee transit bus collided with a reckless driver, killing one person and injuring seven others. This crash occurred at the intersection of 35th Street and Capitol Drive just before midnight. According to reports, the driver of the car was going over 100 miles per hour.
Tony Evans, an employee of Always Towing, just happened to be moving along the route when he saw the accident occur. Evans watched as the speeding car ran the red light and crashed into the bus. Others might have tried to get as far away from the scene of the wreckage as possible, but not Evans. He immediately jumped in to action .
“All I saw was a boom and the bus spin around in the air,” Evans said. “I jumped into rescue mode.”
Evans exited his truck and ran to the scene of the crash, in order to help.
“Tow truck drivers, I’m the one that comes to the scene afterwards. But this time I just happened to be here when it happened, and that was just horrific,” Evans said.
While Evans helped pull a woman out of her car, he noticed that a man was trapped underneath the bus. Thinking on his feet once again, Evans ran back to his rig, started it up, and used it to lift the bus!
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“I grabbed the tow truck, put it on the back of the bus, lifted the bus up off of the guy, then pulled him out from under the bus,” Evans said.
This acute stress response (ASR), often known as “fight or flight,” was instrumental in driving Evans to take action to save two lives. When we are faced with situations of real or perceived danger, our body sets in motion a series of physiological changes like rapid heart rate, rapid breathing, and the release of glucose to fuel the muscles so that they are ready for action. Evans was also able to make those quick decisions on what to do and when to act that were critical in the moment.
In a world where people are numbing themselves with illicit drugs, medications, or alternate realities, it is good to know that sober men like Tony Evans still exist. We need more like him, especially as the times grow increasingly perilous.
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Local news station WISN named Evans their “Person of the Week” for his bravery. Evans was scheduled to visit with the man he saved on Monday. He wished he could have done more, but was glad he was able to step in at that moment.
“I don’t feel like no hero or nothing like that, its just something that anyone would have did at that time seeing all that tragedy,” Evans said.
The mark of a true hero is that you don’t realize you are one.
Many thanks to “Bluegrass Tea,” one of our RedState readers, for alerting me to this story!