A tanker driver who tried to get the police to stop a speeding car that killed Auckland firefighter Jim Hughes in 1994 has spoken out poignantly on this blog about his grief over the incident and how he tried to run the car that killed Mr Hughes off the road.
Auckland man Rodger McCutcheon posted a lengthy comment tonight under the article paying tribute to Hamilton fireman Derek Lovell, who died of injuries sustained in the Icepak coolstore explosion at Tamahere on Saturday.
Mr McCutcheon identified himself as the petrol tanker driver who followed an eratically driven car until it struck senior firefighter Jim Hughes, who was operating a fire engine pump during a clean-up after a fatal accident on Auckland’s Northern Motorway on Saturday July 9 1994.
Mr Hughes, a father of three, was struck at full speed by a driver who ploughed through flashing lights and emergency vehicles at the accident cordon. Minutes earlier the police had been warned of an erratic driver heading for the scene near the Onewa Rd onramp.
In his comment tonight, Mr McCutcheon says he made three cellphone calls from his tanker to the police as he followed the car for 20 minutes along the motorway. He watched in horror as the car crushed Jim Hughes against the fire engine’s pump panel.
“I have carried the grief of this shocking incident with me and I still find myself feeling so terribly let down by the police as Jim’s death was needless. If the police had taken my calls seriously Jim would still be here today.
“What I did not say at the time of this accident for fear of losing my job, was that, in a last ditch effort, when I saw the police had no idea of the danger coming their way, I made desperate efforts with my fully loaded tanker to push the drunk’s car off the road or at least spin it off. Unfortunately I missed the rear of the car and had a hell of a job controlling the tanker as the liquid shifted in the tanks. Right after stabilising the tanker, I then witnessed the drunk driver nearly take out a policeman before seeing him take Jim Hughes’s life.”
Mr McCutcheon says he heard a senior fireman on the radio today saying those people who stepped in to assist in the Tamahere fire should be recognised by the state for a bravery award.
“I don’t deny these people, but surely people like me who tried to save a life and failed, have an emptiness like those people will never know.
“Making every attempt to save a life and not succeeding is devastating; if my attempts had saved Jim’s life this would be all the reward I would need. How do you think it feels to be let down to such a degree by others after making all possible attempts to save Jim; still to this day it haunts me.
“To Jim’s children I’m so sorry, your loss I live with everyday.”
Footnote: Morning Report highlighted how close-knit a community firefighters are around the world, mentioning that Derek Lovell is being mourned by many firefighters around the world. The flags on New South Wales fire stations have been at half-mast since his death, for example.
