A little boy involved in a horrible wreck was saved by a passing truck driver, but his family wasn’t able to get his contact information. Now, the two have been reunited thanks to some information stored on a handheld gaming system.
In Arizona during the summer of 2020, the Apodaca family was returning home from a family outing in two separate cars – mom and baby in one vehicle, dad and 9-year-old Corey in the other. As they drove home, Corey and his father were struck by a wrong-way driver, killing the father and seriously injuring Corey; that’s where truck driver Ty Mauzerolle steps into the picture.
Mauzerolle happened to be passing by as the wreck occurred, so he pulled over and stopped to help.
“You could hear him [Corey] screaming the second you got out of the truck,” Mauzerolle said to KHOU 11 News.
“Everything broken on both sides from the elbows down,” said Shaina Apodaca, Corey’s mother, about his injuries.
Mauzerolle quickly jumped into action and got Carey safely out of the wrecked vehicle, calling 911 and waiting with the boy until paramedics arrived. Once paramedics started treatment at the scene, Corey was too scared to let them give him a shot, so Mauzerolle offered him something no little boy can resist – video games.
“[I said] If you take the medications the paramedics are trying to give you I’m going to go get it and give [you my Nintendo Switch] and he took the shots,” Mauzerolle described.
The paramedics then transported Corey to a hospital, and Mauzerolle went on his way.
Once Corey recovered, his mother set out to find the truck driver who saved and comforted her son, but it was rough going – until she remembered the Nintendo Switch.
“I was actually getting ready to give up on looking for him because like I didn’t know what else to do!” Shaina Apodaca said.
The handheld gaming device held just a little bit of information on the driver’s identity, but it was just enough: the name ‘Ty M.’ and the location ‘York County Maine.’ Shaina then reached out to the York County Sheriff’s Department for help.
“I found him within three days after that,” Shaina Apodaca said with a laugh.
Now that the family has reconnected with their hero truck driver, Mauzerolle says he has picked out some video games as a late Christmas present for Corey, and hopes to give them to the boy next time he is passing through Arizona.
“I did it because I think anyone with a heart would have done it and you know I’m a life long Mainer, we help people out, it’s what we do,” the driver said.