Tow truck driver comes to young mom’s rescue

On Tuesday morning, Sarah Simms was stuck in traffic.

Simm's car broke down on Calgary's QEII. She sat in the slow lane for 30 minutes, watching angry drivers zoom past her. Her five-month-old daughter, Isabell, was buckled in the backseat of the 1990 Chevrolet Cavalier.

She called both her father and boyfriend for help. She had no choice but to wait for someone to come to her aid — and suffer the insults of road-raging strangers.

"A truck pulled up and they unrolled their window so I thought they might have a suggestion because I don't know about cars," Simms told the Calgary Sun. "But they just said 'move your [expletive] car you stupid [expletive],' so I started bawling my eyes out."

About 10 minutes after the young mom burst into tears, tow-truck driver Burt Trithart came to her rescue. He was on his way to another call when he saw the distressed woman stranded in the middle of the road.

"He said 'let me pull you off the road,' then saw I had [Isabell] and he was appalled nobody stopped," said Simms.

Trithart, a father, couldn't help but assist the mother and daughter. He pulled Simms' car off the road, rescuing them from the dangerous highway.

He then went above and beyond: The good Samaritan towed Simms' vehicle to her parents' home in Airdrie at no cost.

Trithart said, "My priority was to make sure her and her daughter were safe; I figured 'I have the equipment and machinery with me to make sure no one hits her.' "

Simms and her daughter arrived home safely where her father concluded that the car had overheated.

Simms says the generous gesture has restored her faith in humanity — or at least in her Calgarian neighbours.

Watch Simm's and Trithart's encouraging story here.

(Photo credit: George Rose/Getty Images)