Remember the massive pileup in Fort Worth, Texas following the ice storm on Feb. 11? Well, Toyota is rewarding a paramedic for his heroic actions that day.
MedStar paramedic Trey McDaniel was on his way to work that icy morning when came upon the enormous crash. He says he tried to brake, but ended up slamming into the wreckage. Then the situation took a turn for the worse.
"I look up in my review mirror, and there's a semi-truck heading straight for me," McDaniel says. "I saw sparks. Headlights. It was traveling very, very quickly. I didn't have time to react."
The semi crashed into the wreckage, totaling McDaniel's 2011 Toyota FJ.
Despite being injured, McDanniel managed to crawl out of the twisted wreckage and immediately got to work.
"My gut instinct was just to start immediately helping people," McDaniel said. "Working as a paramedic, I see this day after day. I just jumped into action."
After hearing about his heroics, Toyota decided to replace McDaniel’s totaled car with a brand new, 2021 Toyota Runner TRD Pro. It was presented to him today at Texas Toyota of Grapevine. McDaniel says the generous move blew him away.
"I feel very, I can't express the appreciation I have for Toyota for doing this for me," he says. "They've gone out of their way to make this happen." McDaniel says he's feeling a rollercoaster of emotions, but mostly, he's grateful. And humble.
"I just feel like I was doing my job," he says. "I really don't feel like the hero they're making me out to be. I was just doing my job like any other day."