A Colorado man came to the aid of a driver who went unconscious while behind the wheel, letting his own truck get hit. On Friday, September 6, Ryan Myrick was commuting home in Lakewood when he witnessed a vehicle on the highway swerve dramatically and collide with the median barrier.
“I’m honking, screaming, yelling, no response,” Myrick recalled to local outlet KMGH-TV.
Once he realized the young driver was in danger, the quick-thinking truck driver decided to take action. Myrick stopped his pickup directly in the path of the unconscious driver.
“I get my truck in front of hers, I stop and let her just bam, right into the back of me.”
An off-duty police officer at the scene quickly intervened, assisting Myrick in breaking the windows and shutting off the driver’s ignition. Additionally, a nurse present also paused to lend a hand.
The unconscious driver, Ashleigh Dierking, eventually came to. She briefly spoke to Myrick before first responders took her to the hospital.
Myrick told KMGH-TV that his bumper sustained some damage. However, he didn’t sweat the cometic damage and said he “would do it again without hesitation.”
The Hero Who Let His Truck Get Hit Eventually Reunited with the Unconscious Driver
Just last week, Myrick and Dierking were reunited by Denver outlet Fox 31.
“I’m so glad you’re doing OK,” Myrick declared as he hugged Dierking. “I knew something was wrong. I tried to pull over and that’s all I knew.”
I’m very happy to be here,” Dierking told her hero. “It’s so nice to know what happened and that I can say thank you. I can feel good about going out in the world because there’s good people out there.”
Meanwhile, Dierking is getting to the bottom of her medical emergency that day. She claims it was the first time anything like that had happened to her.
“Most likely it was a seizure. So, I have a little brain damage now. I’m very grateful if it is that now I know. Now I know how to take care of myself,” Dierking explained.
It seems the only injury she sustained that day was self-inflicted.
“The most noticeable thing for me was my tongue,” Dierking revealed. “I don’t know what actually happened, but I bit down pretty hard and ripped off most of the side of my tongue.”
Dierking went on to thank Myrick for his help that fateful day.
“Because you did what you did I get to continue being here,” she told him.
Meanwhile, Myrick’s girlfriend took it upon herself to start a GoFundMe to fix the damage to her beau’s bumper. As of this writing, it’s raised over $2,400.