A Texas man who was recently driving on a highway reportedly stopped his pickup truck in front of a car with an unconscious man behind the wheel, gradually slowed down with his rear bumper, and finally stopped him to avoid what could have been a major accident.
René Villarreal-Albe’s good deed was captured in a dramatic cell phone video recorded by his wife, Andrea Walker, and later shared online by his sister, Cortney Trinidad, as reported by Texas news outlet Kens 5. The video and action-movie-like story gained widespread attention in corners of the Internet dedicated to finding positive news, generating some comments that hailed Villarreal-Albe as a “road hero.”
Villarreal-Albe was driving his pickup truck on San Antonio’s 410 Beltway with Walker as a passenger when they both saw a sport utility vehicle weaving in and out of traffic, as well as crashing and bouncing off a concrete barrier.
The pair realized the motorist in question was unconscious and unable to stop the truck, so Walker told Kens 5, “we took action.”
Villarreal-Albe, who welds for a living, drove past the unconscious driver with his truck, on which he had just fabricated and installed a heavy-duty bumper. The welder then slowed him and the unconscious driver until they came to a complete stop, letting nearby traffic speed past harmlessly.
A bystander who turned out to be a nurse and had deduced that a medical emergency was occurring soon stopped and began performing CPR on the unconscious motorist.
Then the first responders arrived and were summoned to the scene to take the motorist to the hospital. He was breathing and had a pulse on the way to the hospital, although he was in critical condition, Kens reported, citing a fire department spokesman.
Although he had no training to execute a type of maneuver that police generally classify as a precision restraint technique, Villarreal-Albe later told Kens that he trusted himself to have a sturdy enough truck and the “good critical thinking” necessary to defuse the danger that an out-of-control car posed to motorists, including him.
“I just saw someone who looked like…he needed…help,” Villarreal-Albe said.
Villarreal-Albe added that he hoped people would rush to help him if he ever needed it urgently. And he described what a great relief it was for the CPR performed on the unconscious motorist to regain some of the color he had evidently lost.
“That,” Villarreal-Albe told the station, “made it worth it.”
Cortney Trinidad told Kens that her brother’s instinct to protect those around him comes from having experienced “a difficult childhood” with four sisters.
“He had always taken care of us when it wasn’t necessary,” the station quoted Trinidad as saying. “So this doesn’t surprise me at all.”
