Battle Creek Delivery Driver takes Heroic Actions to Save Motorist

A Battle Creek man took heroic actions to save a motorist suffering from a serious medical emergency and others on the road.

What would you do? We've all thought to ourselves at some point about different scenarios and how we'd react. Hopefully, none of us ever have to find out how we'd react in a situation as serious as this.

I serve in the Michigan National Guard and we as Natinal Guard soldiers are here to serve our community at any time and in any way we can. Our motto is “live here, work here, serve here!” And that’s exactly what happened yesterday. ~Skylar Ashley

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Skylar Ashley, pictured on the left, is a part-time delivery driver for Eats BC. He is also an assistant recruiter in the Michigan Army National Guard. Skylar sites his training with the National Guard for being able to identify the potentially deadly situation and intervene before anyone was seriously hurt.

On Wednesday, May 19 at around 5:00 p.m., Skylar had just left his job where he is an assistant recruiter for the National Guard. He had turned left off of Dickman Road onto Washington to the downtown area when he noticed an SUV going way below the speed limit in the right lane while hugging the curb. Skylar says he moved into the left lane to pass and saw the driver was clenching the steering wheel with her eyes wide open and looking fearful.

Skylar says he could tell something was just not right so he merged to the right lane directly in front of the SUV and kept an eye on her using his rearview mirror. As the two vehicles approached the intersection of Jackson and Washington, he said it appeared that the driver of the SUV was having a seizure. The driver of the SUV then swerved into the lane of oncoming traffic as the two vehicles came to the intersection of West Michigan and Washington.

Skylar pulled alongside the SUV and began honking the horn of his vehicle to get her attention and to alert other drivers. The SUV finally came to a stop at the corner of the intersection in the lane for oncoming traffic. Skylar quickly parked his vehicle in the Eats BC parking lot and ran to the SUV.

Skylar says the driver was unresponsive and the doors to the SUV were locked. He continued to talk to the woman while also contacting 911. While communicating with dispatch, a police vehicle approached so Skylar waved him over. The officer parked in front of the SUV to keep it from moving forward. Skylar then communicated to the officer what he had witnessed. The officer tried to reach his arm through a small crack in the window to unlock the SUV doors but was unable to reach in far enough. Skylar then tried and was successfully able to unlock the doors.

The officer immediately got the vehicle into park and shut the engine off. Emergency crews believed the driver was having a seizure from low blood sugar and administered 4 crushed sugar tablets. The woman became responsive within minutes and of course, thanked Skylar and the first responders on the scene for all they did to save her life.

Skylar, at just 22-years-old, is a great example of the best of Battle Creek.