Good Samaritan recalls trying to save trucker in Union County
By Joe Hathaway on Tuesday, March 5th, 2024 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
SPRING CREEK — What started as a typical day turned extraordinary for one man driving through Union County on I-84.
The driver, who asked to remain anonymous, tells Elkhorn Media Group he was pulled over on the freeway near milepost 248 at Spring Creek in the morning of Wednesday, February 28 when he noticed something odd.
He said he saw a truck driver on the other side of the freeway, laying on the ground, motionless.
“I assumed he was looking under the truck as if he was broken down in the chain up area heading the opposite direction. I continued to watch him because I noticed many trucks passed him and threw snow all over him and he didn’t move. I thought this was strange.”
The motionless driver has been identified as 66-year-old Richard Robertson of Vancouver, Washington.
The driver said he called 911 and gave the location of where he and Roberston were at. He said while he was waiting, something urged him to cross the freeway.
“I thought about the guy laying in the snow and thought “what if it were me?” “What if he has a family?” I remembered what my old drill sergeants used to say, “integrity is doing the right thing when no one’s looking”.
He said he then decided to cross the treacherous freeway, navigating through ice-covered lanes and deep snow to reach Robertson. Once at the scene, he discovered his lying face down in the snow, covered in a blanket of white and not breathing.
The driver, still on the phone with 911 Dispatch, then commenced life-saving efforts, including checking for signs of injury, feeling for a pulse, and initiating CPR.
“I don’t know how long I was giving chest compressions but it was a minimum of 29 minutes, just from my cell phone’s call log with dispatch.”
After what he said “felt like a lifetime”, an OSP Trooper and then paramedics arrived. The driver continued to assist until they loaded Robertson into an ambulance.
Sadly, Robertson did not survive. He was declared deceased at Grande Ronde Hospital. OSP says it appears he suffered a serious cardiac event.
“When I arrived at my destination, I received a call from the company in which the gentleman drove for. They simply wanted to thank me for stopping and helping. I asked if he made it. There was a pause. And then I heard someone crying in the background and the man speaking said he did not. He explained that the man I stopped to help was his “very best friend”, “A retired Marine” and “a husband”. He said he was a godly man who was in a better place.
The driver, whose statement of the events on that day have been corroborated by OSP, says he doesn’t feel like a hero and doesn’t want to be known as one. He says he was just trying to do the right thing and save another human’s life. He says he has spoken to Robertson’s family.
“They are obviously devastated and I am also for their loss. They are lovely and great people.”
OSP says the Union County Medical Examiner continues to investigate the cause of death.
