In an unsettling incident, Michael, a vigilant truck driver, became a hero by promptly alerting authorities about a deeply disturbing situation.
Michael had parked his truck at a rest area along I-10 in a border state when he observed a pickup truck arriving nearby. Within moments, a man and a woman proceeded to unlock a padlocked cage concealed beneath a tarp in the back of the truck, releasing a group of children.
Michael’s instincts kicked in when he observed the children being ushered forcefully into the restroom and subsequently confined within padlocked cages beneath a tarp situated at the rear of the pickup truck. Sensing that something was wrong, he made the crucial decision to dial 911.
“I’m sitting at a rest area. This truck pulls up, opens up the back. It’s like a cage-looking thing… That guy and this lady have a whole bunch of kids in the back of that truck… And then they take the padlock off, raise the tarp, and all these kids come out the back, and they’re forcing them into the bathroom,” Michael said.
The truck driver recounts the moment the kidnappers began to flee upon seeing him on the phone.
“They see me on the phone. They’re watching me in the mirror the whole time. They f-cking take off,” said Michael.
He added, “The cops on the phone with me told me to follow them as close as you can, as much as you can until we get units out.”
Despite his truck’s limitations preventing him from keeping up with the escaping truck, he provided crucial details that aided law enforcement in tracking down and apprehending the kidnappers.
“They finally caught up to them because I couldn’t keep up with them. My truck only goes seventy. They catch up to them, they pull them over,” Michael recounted.
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During an interview with Mutha Trucker, Michael estimated around 15 children were locked in the cage.
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Earlier this month, the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) gave Michael the title of “Highway Angel” for his heroic efforts in rescuing the children from the kidnappers.
From Highway Angel:
The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) has named truck driver Michael (his full name and hometown have been excluded to protect his identity) a TCA Highway Angel for discovering, turning in and chasing human traffickers with multiple children in a cage in the back of a pickup truck.
Michael said the little girls that he saw were no older than three or four years old. When the two adults and little girls came back out of the bathroom, the driver of the pickup forced the kids back into the cage, locked it, and covered the cage in a tarp. Michael called the police, and was able to walk around in the dark to read the truck’s license plate. Somehow the two adults in the pickup truck must have noticed him, because they took off quickly in the truck. Michael followed them.
Michael also pulled over and waited till the police were ready to speak with him to get his statement. Police told Michael that “this kind of thing happens all the time”, several of the children had been reported missing, and that there were even more children in the cage. “In the cage, there were hammocks with kids draped across the top,” Michael said, “and the entire bottom of the cage was filled with children.”
Police also told him for his own protection he should depart, in case anyone affiliated with the human traffickers was watching. The father of two young children (including a little girl) Michael was emotionally distraught after the nightmarish discovery.
“It’s really scary,” he said.
Since the TCA Highway Angels program’s inception in August 1997, nearly 1,300 professional truck drivers have been recognized as Highway Angels for exemplary kindness, courtesy, and courage displayed while on the job. Thanks to the program’s presenting sponsor, EpicVue, and supporting sponsor, DriverFacts, TCA is able to showcase outstanding drivers like Michael.
