CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — What began as a terrifying crash on the shoulder of Interstate 24 in Chattanooga earlier this month has turned into what Ben Moore calls a lifelong bond with the strangers who rushed to help him.
Chattanooga Police say Moore, a Doug Yates tow truck driver, was working on the shoulder of I-24 when a driver hit him.
The moments after the crash were captured on dash camera footage.
Moore described the incident as a near-death experience and credited two bystanders, Bryce Beard and his fiancée, Sierra Trew, with helping save his life before first responders arrived.
“They were my saviors that day,” Moore says.
Beard says he and Trew were driving by when they realized something was wrong.
“As we were passing by, I had my window down and we could hear him screaming and I saw him on the ground,” Beard says.
Beard says the situation was overwhelming at first.
“Seeing such a scene was it hit hard and didn’t really know what to do in that point in time,” he told us. “Of course, we both had the same idea. She said it out loud first before I did.”
Beard says he used what he had to help stop the bleeding.
“I was actually wearing these pants and I had a string on my pants and just took them, they’re gone now,” Beard says.
Moore says their actions made the difference…
“Without them. And slowing down the bleeding. I don’t know if I would have survived it.”
Trew, who is pregnant, says the moment took on added weight as she called Moore’s wife from the scene.
“I heard kids in the background, and we’re clearly about to have a kid, so It kind of hit really hard of oh, he could probably not make it home,” Trew says.
A Facebook post asking for help identifying the bystanders later connected Moore with Beard and Trew under better circumstances.
“I know that this is going to bring us a lot closer, and it already has. And I can’t wait to see how Ben is going make a full recovery,” Beard says.
The crash left Moore with two broken legs, broken feet, and a broken hand.
As Moore continues his recovery, he says he hopes what happened to him underscores the importance of moving over and slowing down for roadside workers.
“The slow down move over message is so important because my family could have lost everything,” Moore says.
The driver of the vehicle that hit Moore was cited for violating the move over law, due care, and failure to maintain lane…