WASHINGTON-Brad Clark, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, resident used his cellular phone three times to help people in emergency situations. His actions won him the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association’s 1997 VITA Wireless Samaritan Award for the state of Iowa.
Driving to work last December in icy conditions, Clark witnessed a young girl lose control of her vehicle and crash into a light pole. Clark, a United States Cellular Corp. customer, summoned help on his cellular phone and convinced the girl to stay in her car to avoid danger from wires that had fallen on the car’s roof and hood.
In another traffic accident, Clark called for help on his cellular phone when a driver rear-ended the vehicle in front of him, throwing his unrestrained child against the windshield.
Clark also assisted an elderly women who had fallen and was unable to move.
Amy Taicher of Denmark, Wis., also will receive a Wireless Samaritan award for using her cellular phone to report a head-on collision between two semi-tractor trailers earlier this year during a blizzard. Taicher, a Cellcom cellular subscriber, was driving back to school when she witnessed the accident. Both truck drivers survived.
The VITA Wireless Samaritan awards are given by CTIA to people nominated by their wireless carriers who exemplify the meaningful role people and wireless phones can have in emergency situations. CTIA will present the awards to Clark, Taicher and other winners at CTIA’s Foundation Dinner June 3 in Washington, D.C. The association said it will honor people from all 50 states who aided in a rescue, prevented a crime or helped make their community safer.
Other winners will be announced this week during the association’s Wireless Safety Week.
