Police are hailing a truck driver as a hero for steering into the Ohio River during a fatal brake failure crash in West Virginia. 

The accident happened on Friday, July 18th along Washington Pike near Wellsburg, West Virginia, but police are still working to investigate the incident that took the life of 62-year-old Texas truck driver, Gerald Lee Davis Jr.

“The vehicle behind him informed him that his brakes were smokey. Right after that, he notified that he had lost his brakes and lost it. He called ahead to the vehicle in front, advised her to get out of the way. She pulled over on 10th Street, not at the intersection, but right next to a building, and he went straight through,” said Wellsburg Police Chief Michael Allman to WTOV 9.

Davis was able to maintain relative control of the vehicle until he reached the Ohio River and drove the tractor trailer straight into it. 

“If that truck would’ve veered one way or another, it would’ve went through buildings because of the weight of the truck,” Allman said. “The driver, I believe, did everything he could to not hurt anybody else.”

“I remember walking outside it was just an army of cops and ambulances. Some of the trees that were over there were just plowed through because he obviously chose not to hit my house, which obviously I am thankful for,” said Matthias Morgan, whose backyard overlooks the crash site. “I saw the aftermath. I saw them pull the truck out of the river. I saw all of the witnesses just crying and emotional. I wish something like this wouldn’t have happened…”

Officials say it may take several more days to complete the investigation of the incident that ended in the trucker steering into the Ohio River.