Grateful for Help in Getting Back on Road

To John Lara, the Caltrans worker who helped Sammy Young on the night he blew out a tire on a desert road in the pouring rain: a word of thanks. Young says he never told you what really happened that cold night, or why your act of kindness was so important.

It was just before midnight on Oct. 19, and rain was coming down in sheets on California 14 near Mojave.

Young’s wife, Sylvie, lay in a hospital in Lancaster, still unconscious from an emergency caesarean. Their newborn, on a respirator and with tubes stuck into his 5-pound body, was fighting for his life.

Earlier in the day, Sylvie Young, 34 weeks pregnant, had been rushed into surgery after her obstetrician had discovered that the baby’s heart was racing at 250 beats per minute instead of the normal 160.

Sammy Young, who works at Edwards Air Force Base, 50 miles away, rushed to the hospital. Seth was born about 5 p.m. But it was after 11 p.m. when Sammy Young, exhausted and shaken, began the 40-mile drive home. Tired as he was, he had to relieve his mother, who had driven from her home in Barstow to take care of Young’s two stepdaughters while he was at the hospital.

Somewhere around Mojave, Young fell asleep at the wheel.

“I woke up and I was flying through the air,” he said. His SUV landed in the median with the blown tire. He regained control and maneuvered back to the shoulder.

Young tried to change the tire, but his jack was too small, and he didn’t have a flashlight. His cellphone, drenched, stopped working. He was worried about the baby, worried about Sylvie, worried about the girls at home and kicking himself for being unprepared. He kept thinking about how the doctor had said the baby might need open-heart surgery.

“It was rainy, cold and windy, and all I can think about is the baby and my wife,” Young said. “I was ready to have a meltdown.”

Car after car passed, but no one stopped to help.

“And then, wow, it was so cool, just like an angel, this guy just shows up, and he’s got a flashlight, and he’s got a little advice -- and he’s got a jack in the front of his rig.”

The two worked side by side, both soaked to the skin, both shivering.

It wasn’t until Young got home and told the story to his mother that he realized he had never asked the stranger his name. All he knew was that the man drove a California Department of Transportation truck and wore an orange Caltrans vest.

If he could find him, Young said, he would tell him everything.

“I would say, ‘Let me tell you why I’m so thankful, because I just had the most traumatic day of my whole life,’ ” Young said. “On a day that was upside down, he restored my faith in human beings.”

A few weeks later, when the baby was home and life was starting to return to normal, Young sent an e-mail to Caltrans. At the top, to get the agency’s attention, he wrote, “This is NOT a complaint!”

He described the events of the night and gave the date. He asked Caltrans officials to find the man who had helped him and give him a raise.

“This man was truly an angel to help me out like that,” Young wrote. “Please, whomever he was, please make sure Santa is good to him this Christmas.”

Mark DeSio, Caltrans’ communications director, put out an advisory asking whether any employees in the High Desert area had helped a stranded driver that night.

John Lara, the night supervisor at the agency’s maintenance yard in Mojave, remembered the night well.

“We were getting severe rain, and I was out patrolling for any flooding or slides, when I saw [Young] by the side of the road with his flashers on,” Lara recalled. “He was sitting there shivering. He was really drenched.”

He had no idea, Lara said, what Young had been through.

“I just did it to be helpful,” he said. “I know how I would feel if I was out there stranded.”

Neither man knew then that they both lived in California City, not far from each other. Lara had had his crises too, having lost his wife to injuries from a fire seven years ago.

As it was, the two men finished their work that October night and said goodbye without saying anything else.

“Thank you,” Young said to Lara, and turned to go back to his truck. Lara watched him go. “You be careful, now,” he said. “Drive careful.”

Then Lara put his tools away. As Young drove off, Lara sat for a moment in the storm.

“I thought to myself, ‘I hope he made it home safe,’ ” Lara said. “I hope he made it there safe.”