Local UPS Drivers Save Man’s Life After Motor Vehicle Accident
Jayna Smith
Our local UPS drivers are greatly appreciated for their delivery service, bringing us our awaited packages, however, on a day just recently, two UPS drivers did much more than that and are credited with saving the lives of a man and his dog.
Two weeks ago, UPS driver Josh Gillespie made a stop at an East Machias home. This particular stop was not supposed to be part of Gillespie’s route that day, so he took care of it very first thing.
Just after setting the package down on the doorstep of the home, Gillespie heard a loud screeching of tires and the sound of an obvious crash. When he looked to see what had happened, he saw a car had hit a telephone pole just across the road.
Gillespie hurried to the scene of the accident where a disoriented man was trapped inside. According to Gillespie, the airbags had been deployed and there was smoke coming from the vehicle.
As luck would have it, UPS driver John LaPointe came upon the accident as the car had caught fire. LaPointe hurried to alert those at the neighboring home.
With the driver of the car out of harm’s way, Gillespie noticed a scared dog in the backseat. Thankfully, even with the car on fire, Gillespie was also able to pull the dog out to safety.
“It’s weird how things happen,” Gillespie later told those at UPS. “This package wasn’t supposed to be on my car so I made it my first stop before I continued on with my regular deliveries.”
Gillespie said he was glad to be at that location at that moment to assist the man. He added that LaPointe was “a great help in the crisis.”
Gillespie has been employed by UPS for since 2015, LaPointe since 1994. They are two of the fourteen UPS drivers who work locally out of the local Baileyville location.
