Truck driver saves woman stranded in a ditch in Washington

On Highway 26 in Colfax, Washington, about an hour south of Spokane, WA, truck driver Richard Ramirez was driving behind a Dodge Durango when it suddenly hit black ice, slid off the road, and went straight into the ditch.


“It was like I catapulted right into the hillside” said the driver of the SUV, Maria Libby, who is still recovering from the accident.

“Right then and there, I could say was ‘help me’. I no sooner got help me out of my mouth, it was just… He was there. He said ‘I’m going to cut your seatbelt off, it’s choking you’.”

Spokane, North Idaho News & Weather KHQ.com

She received 21 staples and 32 stitches on her face and head. Doctors say that if the seatbelt wasn’t cut and removed, she would have “bled out”.

“It was like I was scalped”, she continued. “He was selfless and he didn’t waste a second. He was right there. He’s my angel. Words alone cannot say… Thank you. In my heart, he’s my hero.”

Reporter Katie Chen said that Maria “hopes one day to find him and give him a gift.”

Chen continued “and if he’s watching, I’m not gonna say what that gift is, because I don’t want to reveal it.”