The Truckload Carriers Association has recognized one observant truck driver as a TCA Highway Angel for discovering, reporting, and following suspected human traffickers who had children caged in the back of a pickup truck.

To protect the driver’s identity, TCA has only identified him by his first name, Michael, and did not release his hometown or the exact location of the incident.

According to the association, Michael was at a dark rest stop just off I-10 around 1 a.m. June 18 in a border state. A white pickup truck with a tarp and cage pulled up in front of him and a woman got out of the truck and went around to the back of it.

Children in a Cage

“She raises the tarp, and there’s a padlock on this cage,” Michael said. “She takes the padlock off and opens it and out comes these three or four little girls. They didn’t pull all the kids out — they put the lock back on and they forced the kids into the restroom.”

Michael told TCA the little girls he saw were no older than 3 or 4 years old.

When the two adults and the children came back out of the bathroom, the driver of the pickup forced the girls back into the cage, locked it, and covered the cage in a tarp, according to Michael.

Alerting Police

Michael, a father of two, called the police and was able to walk around in the dark to read the truck’s license plate. In doing so, he was noticed by the adult occupants of the pickup.

The suspected human traffickers took off quickly in the truck, and Michael followed them.

“They got about two or three miles ahead of me, but I was on the phone with the dispatcher,” he said. “Next thing you know, the police pulled them over— cops came out of everywhere.”

Michael also pulled over and waited till the police were ready to speak with him to get his statement. Police told Michael that several of the children had been reported missing and that there were even more children in the cage. 

“In the cage, there were hammocks with kids draped across the top, and the entire bottom of the cage was filled with children,” Michael said.

Police also told him for his own protection he should depart, in case anyone affiliated with the human traffickers was watching.

TCA Highway Angels

Since the TCA Highway Angels program’s inception in August 1997, nearly 1,300 professional truck drivers have been recognized as Highway Angels for exemplary kindness, courtesy, and courage displayed while on the job.

Earlier this year, CFI driver Zach Yeakley was honored as Highway Angel of the Year for his actions after arriving on the scene of a fire-filled, chain-reaction crash.