John Crozman: “I didn’t want any glory, but I am glad they are all right. I was really worried that they weren’t going to be when I went over to their car” ...
(Photo: trucker John Crozman)
Blackhawk, SD,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Clarissa Kell-Holland -7 Feb 2011: -- OOIDA Member John Crozman says he was just doing his job when he spotted a car stranded during a fierce ground blizzard that swept through Summit, SD, during the early hours on Thursday, Feb. 3... Crozman told he was heading northbound on Interstate 29. He described the sudden weather change: “Someone flipped a switch and all of a sudden there was a ground blizzard and nearly whiteout conditions” ... While looking for a safe place to pull off at the rest area at mile marker 213, he realized that huge drifts were covering the road, making it inaccessible... Crozman, an owner-operator from Blackhawk, SD, is leased to Long Haul Trucking of Albertville, MN. He was headed back to the truck stop a few miles away when he saw a faint light coming from a car that was stranded near the rest area... “Honestly, I was worried that I wasn’t going to find them alive when I knocked on their window,” he said. “But they were OK, just scared, and were using a candle to keep warm” ... Thomas and Mary Lynne Fischer of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, were on their way back home from a biking trip in Arizona, when bad weather struck. They had been stranded in their car for more than four hours when Crozman found them... His company found out about his rescue of the Fischers when the couple sent Long Haul Trucking’s owner John Daniels a heartfelt e-mail on Friday, Feb. 4. Up until that point, Crozman hadn’t told anyone what he had done...