Four professional truck drivers have been selected as finalists for the Goodyear North America Highway Hero Award, the trucking industry's most prestigious award for heroism.
Each driver risked his life to save another in an automobile accident or traffic stop, Goodyear officials said. Journalists from the trucking industry are now voting on the drivers, who will be introduced March 31 at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky.
One driver will be named the 2004 Goodyear North America Highway Hero at the Truck Writers of North America Annual Banquet.
The finalists for 2004 are:
* Jose Ogas Jr., Fayetteville, N.C., a driver for TMC Transportation. Applying his Army training with a combat lifesaving team, Ogas saved a man and his daughter from their burning car on Dec. 31, 2003. Ogas was driving on I-70 in Pennsylvania when he noticed the driver in front of him swerving over the yellow line into oncoming traffic. The car eventually left the roadway and landed upside down. As several men lifted the smoking car, Ogas slid through the driver's window, grabbed the daughter's legs and pulled her out. Ogas returned to the car to rescue the father.
*Pat Foraker, Quaker City, Ohio, a driver for Transport Corp. of America. Foraker and his wife, Brenda, saved the lives of two women in a two-car crash on April 15, 2004.
* Rick Dent, Diana, Texas, a driver for Groendyke Transport Inc. Dent saved the lives of a father and his two children on July 14, 2004, on U.S. 84 near Jena, La. After the family car landed in a water-filled ditch, Dent pulled off a door of the car and rescued the three.
*David Tucker, La Grande, Ore., a driver for Seneca Foods Corp. Tucker saved the life of a female California Highway Patrol officer, who was brutally attacked during a traffic stop.
