It should’ve been a typical April afternoon road trip on North Carolina’s Interstate 40 for Durham’s Antoine Thompson (pictured left) and Carlton Morrison (pictured right). The moving team had finished loading the truck and the pair was on schedule.
“We were about 20 minutes outside of Asheville when traffic got really bad,” Thompson, 39, said. “That’s when I noticed a car had hit the guard rail, and there were people already trying to pry the door open because someone was inside.’’
In fact, there were two people inside – a mother and her baby. Thompson said they were stuck in traffic about six cars back from the crash. But that didn’t stop him from jumping out of the truck and rushing to see if he could help. Morrison stayed back to watch after the truck and its full load.
“When I got up there, I noticed the car was smoking,’’ he said. “It was on fire.”
He ran back to the truck to get the fire extinguisher.
“I saw Antoine running back and I knew it had to be a fire, so I got the extinguisher,” Morrison, 34, said.
The extinguisher helped Thompson and others tame the fire enough so they could remove the woman from the vehicle, Morrison said.
The baby was passed through a window and they were able to pull the woman from her car through the passenger door.
“We laid (the woman) on the ground,” Thompson said. “I took off my TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® t-shirt and put it under her head like a pillow.
Minutes after the two were safely out of the car, it went up in flames.
Back in the truck, Morrison called 911 and the franchise to let them know what was happening.
Founder Mary Ellen Sheets said she cried when she heard the story. “God bless Antoine and Carlton and the risk they took,” she said. “TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® is lucky to have them as part of our team.”
Brooke Wilson from the Durham office answered Morrison’s phone call.
“Carlton called me to let me know what was happening,” Wilson said. “He wanted me to know they would be late.”
She was impressed by their calm, professional attitudes.
“They were worried about being late and finishing the job,” she said. “Antoine wanted me to know he was out of uniform. I was like ‘don’t worry about it, it’s OK right now’.”
Morrison also called his customer.
“The customer was about 20 miles behind us stuck in another traffic jam caused by a different accident,” Morrison said. “I didn’t want to leave the truck – we’re not supposed to – it was full of the customer’s stuff.”
Wilson said she was amazed to hear the full story, but not surprised by the men’s reaction.
“They care, I knew that,’’ she said. “They cared about that woman and her family the way they would care about their own.”
Wilson said they received many phone calls and e-mails from people who saw what Thompson and Morrison did. One witness e-mailed Wilson to tell her what a “pleasure” it was to meet Thompson.
“He put himself in harm’s way to help a total stranger and her baby out of a burning vehicle,’’ the e-mail said. “For that heroic act, he deserves a debt of gratitude from those involved and likewise from those that stood by as witnesses.”
Thompson has been with TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® for four years. Morrison has been with the company for a year. Thompson was named the franchise’s employee of the month for April.
“They’re both great workers and we’re lucky to have them,” Wilson said. “I was worried about their safety. I’m just happy everyone is OK; it’s really a heart-wrenching story.”
The TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® team was featured in the local newspaper about their involvement in saving the woman and her baby, who are alright after being treated for minor injuries at a nearby hospital.
“I just thought that’s what I’d want someone to do if it were my family,” Morrison said. “I just thought about my own family.”
Contact:
Katie Rexrode
Media Relations/Communications Manager
katier@twomen.com