Newly filed court documents highlight a heroic moment in the midst of a tragedy last week.
Ashley Marie Springer McDonald, 37, and Woodie Earl Beck III, 53, were killed instantly when a semi-truck plowed into their vehicles at a busy intersection in Thomasville.
Dash cam footage showed the horrific moment that claimed two innocent lives.
The driver of the semi-truck, Andrii Dmyterko, a foreigner in the United States on a work visa, was arrested and charged with two counts of vehicular homicide.
Photos of the crash circulated on social media, showing three vehicles crunched and unidentifiable. One of the vehicles was flipped over and engulfed in flames. Miraculously, the driver of that vehicle survived.
According to a civil lawsuit filed against Dmyterko and the company he worked for, 4 US Transport, the driver was left hanging upside-down, strapped in by her seatbelt. She was unable to get out of the vehicle. However, two bystanders ran to her rescue and pulled them from her Nissan Rogue.
The driver was transported to Grove Hill Memorial Hospital, where she was treated and released.
The civil lawsuit states that the woman, who is from Tuscaloosa, views those two bystanders as heroes and hopes to thank them personally.
The lawsuit claims negligent or wanton driving, negligent or wanton hiring and training, supervision, retention and entrustment and negligent or wanton inspection, maintenance, service, alteration, repair or other ways.
The plaintiff accuses Dmyterko of being “incompetent to drive due to impairment by drugs or alcohol, mental impairment, bad temperament, habitual bad judgment, habitual distraction (by devices or otherwise), lack of sleep and /or otherwise.”
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