DaVante Williams, a 32-year-old Uber driver, is being praised for his heroic effort to get a teenage girl home to her parents after being stuck in traffic for more than five hours on Interstate 95 in Virginia.
A severe winter storm on Jan. 4 caused a 50-mile backup on the Interstate, as Williams' priority became his passenger's safety.
Williams told CNN in an interview that the teen was traveling from Union Station in Washington, D.C., to her home Williamsburg, Virginia. He picked her up at 2 a.m. after her train was canceled multiple times due to weather.
"She's telling me she's okay, but I could hear her on the phone talking to family and friends and I can hear that she's just exhausted, emotional, and just tired," Williams said.
Williams continued to check on her, offering snacks and drinks that he had in the car. However, he had no blankets and feared about the gas in his car getting low from running the heat. He eventually followed a work truck and some other cars to turn around on I-95 and head back to Washington, D.C.
Williams did not want to leave the passenger by herself at Union Station, so he convinced her parents to let him buy a hotel room for her with his own money so she would be safe. Naturally, the parents were reluctant, but determined it was the safest plan.
"They don't know me, I don't know them, and I get it," Williams said. "They just want to make sure their child is safe."
She was checked into a hotel room at around 8 a.m. and Williams offered to take her back home to Williamsburg once the roads were cleared. A family friend was able to drive her home instead.
"So around about 8:30 Tuesday night, she texted me and said she was safe," Williams said. "She thanked me for everything and her parents had also thanked me, for doing what I did for their daughter because I didn't have to do it."
Uber is reimbursing Williams for the hotel room and thanked him for going above and beyond for his passenger.
Williams was also offered a part-time job as a lead driver for Alto, an upscale rideshare company that operates in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington, D.C.
"We are thrilled," a spokeswoman said in an email to CNN. "DaVante is exactly the type of customer and safety focused leader we are looking to help lead our DC presence."
Williams would be training other drivers on customer service and maintaining their vehicles. He added that they still have to work the details out since he works full-time as a property manager and realtor.
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