Trucker saves woman from murderous ex-boyfriend

It wasn't the first time Mike Schiotis, a driver for Panther Expedite, had stopped to help a motorist in need, but his heroic actions earlier this month will be one time he sure won't forget.

Schiotis couldn't believe it when he saw a man with a gun coming after a woman at a wreck on Interstate 380 outside Scranton, Pa. As the Tennessean reports about the Spring Hill, Tenn. resident, Schiotis said he pulled over, jumped out of the cab, and found the man beating the woman with the gun.

As he left the scene with the 41-year-old woman in his truck, Schotis learned it was a domestic dispute with her ex-boyfriend, who apparently was angry after she told him she was pregnant with his baby.

The ex-boyfriend continued to pursue the rig while Schotis called 911. Another trucker helped Schiotis block the roadway and, at the instructions of the 911 operator, slowed down and stopped so a following trooper could apprehend the suspect.

I was thinking it was the kind of story that belongs in a movie or TV show, and in fact, in a press release Panther sent out recognizing its driver's heroic efforts, Schiotis said that the whole thing seemed like something out of a movie for him. (Schiotis has worked as an independent contractor with Panther for two years.)

While at first he thought the woman was just having car trouble, he realized it was a lot more serious after he saw that the woman was bleeding. "I knew I couldn't ignore her and just go on down the road and later read that something bad had happened to her."

Be sure to read this compelling account of the incident from The Scranton Times Tribune.

Thanks, Mike, for showing the public there really are still "knights of the road" out there on our nation's highways.