Three teens are being called heroes after helping out a stranded lady by pushing her car five miles home.
The incident occurred in Fonthill, Ontario, Canada, where Aeron McQuillin, 18, Bailey Campbell, 17, and Billy Tarbett, 15, were out getting doughnuts late at night. They came across a person stranded in the middle of an intersection with smoke coming out of their vehicle, and knew they had to help.
The driver of the car, a Chevy Cobalt, revealed she had only purchased the car six weeks earlier, but with severe engine problems and not enough money for a tow truck, the three teens decided to push the car five miles (9 km) back to her house.
The boys’ act of kindness soon went viral after their story was posted on social media.
Speaking to The Star after the incident, Aeron McQuillin said:
We were at the right place at the right time, and this is one of those stories that we can look back on in 10 years and say it was one of those crazy things we did, but it was all worth it.
The trio, who are all car enthusiasts, recognised the Chevy’s engine failure, and realised the woman wouldn’t be able to drive it home, so decided to push it there themselves.
Billy Tarbett said:
We had nothing better to do, but even if we did I would like to think we would have helped her anyway.
The teens said they grabbed some bottles of water and pushed the Chevy along Merritville Highway, into Welland where the lady lived. Another resident of the area, Dan Morrison, also stopped to help, and followed behind the teens with his hazard lights on so other cars would see what was happening.
The 5-mile push took just under two hours to complete, and the teens arrived back home at around 4.30am.
Morrison shared what happened on Facebook, and the teens’ story quickly went viral.
As Aeron said:
We woke up to our phones blowing up with messages and Facebook notifications from total strangers showing their appreciation and gratitude for our random act of kindness.
While 17-year-old Bailey Campbell added:
I’m like whoah, what’s going on? I’m tagged in all these posts and I don’t even know these people.
The teens hope their story will encourage more people to help others in the future.
Aeron added:
We hope more people learn from this situation and not be afraid to lend a helping hand to those in need.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via story@unilad.com
Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.