Trucker leaps into tanker truck to stop vehicle after its driver dies

A trucker jumped from his rig on the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to stop a tanker truck whose driver died behind the wheel, according to a report in the LeHigh Valley Morning Call.

State police said the trucker, who was not identified, saw the slow-moving tanker truck in the left northbound lane on Sunday, July 15, pulled over, ran to the truck, climbed aboard and stopped it.

Cetronia Ambulance Corps determined the tanker’s driver, Richard C. Cole, 59, of Avondale, Chester County, had died. The Lehigh County coroner’s office pronounced him dead at the scene at 5:17 p.m.

Cole’s death was not considered suspicious, police said.