Truck.Net

Goodyear’s Annual Highway Hero Program Seeks New Nominees

Akron, OH - November 18, 2008 - Officer Lou Gregoire of the Gwinnett County Police Department believes the actions of truck drivers, like David Zorn, make them more of a hero than the so-called ones who play pro sports for the local Atlanta teams.
 
“A lot of people make sports stars out to be some kind of heroes,” Gregoire said. “But if you ask me, people who don’t seek the limelight and risk their personal safety, perhaps even their lives, to save people they don’t know, that separates them as the real heroes.”
 
Back in 2000, Zorn was driving an 18-wheeler for the now-defunct Consolidated Freightway. He stopped his truck when he witnessed Gregoire being attacked on the shoulder of U.S. Interstate 85 in Norcross, Ga., on the outskirts of Atlanta. Gregoire’s attacker had him pinned on the ground, but when he saw the 6-foot, 2-inch, 250-pound truck driver coming at him brandishing a large flashlight, he fled. Seeing the attacker had no weapon, Zorn pursued, caught and held him on the ground until other police officers arrived.
 
For his selfless act of bravery, Zorn received not only the eternal gratitude of Gregoire and the rest of the Gwinnett County Police Department, he also earned the 2000 Goodyear North America Highway Hero Award.
 
Every year, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company seeks nominations for its annual North American Highway Hero program. The program recognizes a professional driver who was heroic or risked life and limb to help others on the road. Nominations for this year’s award are now being accepted through Nov. 30, 2008. Nomination forms and program details may be obtained by calling the Goodyear Hero Hotline at 330-796-8183. The nomination form also is available on the program’s Web site at www.highwayhero.net.
 
Gregoire, who is now working in his dream job as a helicopter pilot in the police department’s elite aviation unit, said he’s not sure what would have happened if Zorn hadn’t been there. Before Zorn stopped, dozens of motorists had slowed down to look at the scene as the beleaguered officer fought for his life, but they quickly drove on.
 
Because the man who attacked Gregoire was a physical trainer at the local YMCA, the fight lasted for several minutes, a near-eternity in a street brawl. Gregoire struggled to keep the attacker from reaching for his sidearm. When Gregoire pulled out his sidearm and tried to shoot, the Smith and Wesson semi-automatic pistol locked up because the clip had ejected during the struggle. Also, police backup for Gregoire wasn’t immediately available because all the other officers had been tied up with two shootings and three bar brawls in the area.
 
“The whole time I was fighting him, he kept telling me, ‘I’m not going to jail…you’re making me kill you…since you’re not letting me go, I’m going to have to kill you,’ ” he said. Gregoire had stopped him on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. He found out later that the same man had assaulted an officer and escaped during a similar DUI stop nearly a year earlier.
 
For the assault on Gregoire, the suspect received a 10-year sentence and went to prison.
 
Zorn, who is now working as a regional driver for Yellow Transportation, still has a hard time seeing himself as a hero. Rather he looks at himself as someone who was angry that no one else would stop to help a police officer in trouble.
 
“I guess it was the way I was raised, you help people when they’re in trouble,” Zorn said.
 
Still, Zorn said he’s grateful that there’s a program like the Goodway Highway Hero to recognize truck drivers who go the extra mile to help others. He sees the program as an encouragement to truck drivers to take more responsibility for helping others.   
 
 “Before this incident, I had been driving trucks for 12 years feeling somewhat disconnected from society,” he said. “You know, it’s just the nature of the job since trucking is so demanding. But when this situation came up it was an opportunity for me to do something for the neighborhood and my neighborhood was the highway.
 
“I was amazed at how many people knew who I was after I won the Highway Hero award,” he said. “When I worked for Consolidated, I was routinely driving from Atlanta to the Pacific Northwest. I would be in Seattle or in Portland walking across the yard and co-workers who I didn’t know would smile at me and talk to me just like they knew me. Then when I came over to Yellow Transportation (a few years later) the same thing was happening. It’s because drivers read the trade journals and the trucking press, which had done stories on me winning the award. It’s amazing how powerful the press is.”
 
Gregoire, who went with Zorn to the Mid-America Trucking Show in 2001 where he received the award at a special ceremony, said the Highway Hero program is important because it changes people’s perceptions of truck drivers.
 
“After what David did for me and after meeting the other Highway Hero nominees at the trucking show, I started seeing truck drivers more as professionals who are proud of what they do and how they really do care about their reputations and the safety of others,” he said.
 
Goodyear commercial tire systems offer complete products and services to the trucking industry, including a full range of original equipment and replacement tires.  In addition, the company’s cradle-to-grave tire and service network includes retreading, tire management tools and business solutions for tomorrow’s trucking fleets.
 
 

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