It was a pretty day on October 2, 2015 about 2:00 pm when Chad Kirkland and his wife were traveling on East Canal Road when suddenly, and without any warning, the vehicle in front of them drifted across the road, crashed into a tree and flipped into the waters of the Intracoastal Waterway, Gulf Shores, Alabama. The driver, 47 year old Timothy Holley, was trapped in the vehicle.
Mr. Kirkland told FOX10 News Reporter Will Robinson-Smith that “my instinct was to get the guy out of there immediately because he was…I was scared he was going to drown and I wasn’t going to let the guy drown. If he survived the wreck, he wasn’t going to die from drowning.”
Across the street from the accident scene there were two men working on a driveway who immediately came over to help. Then others joined in to try and keep Mr. Holley’s head out of the water. In the process of trying to pry the door open on the vehicle, the car caught on fire. Kirkland said that four or five other people came down with buckets and were dousing the flames while they continued to get him removed from the vehicle. The fire and police officials arrived and were able to get Holley out of the care and he was transported to South Baldwin Regional Medical Center. Unfortunately, in spite all of the efforts of these Good Samaritans, Mr. Holley died at the hospital. Gulf Shores Police are still investigating the crash to determine what caused Mr. Holley to veer off the road.
Even though Mr. Holley succumbed to his injuries, it definitely was not because he was there alone. Many people came to his aid that day that had no idea who Timothy Holley was or what even caused him to veer off the road. It is comforting to know that Good Samaritans still exist and risk their own lives trying to save another. God Bless America!
