HENDERSON, Texas — After 10 days, a young man that was pulled from a car wreck amid the icy conditions that struck East Texas last week was able to meet his rescuer.
On Jan. 16, Cooper Mayes was in a weather-related car crash that caused his truck to flip and had him wondering if he would make it out.
Paige Mayes, a teacher at Gilmer ISD and Cooper Mayes' mother, said her son was only able to remember a few things about the man who rescued him: he had dark hair and his name was Justin.
That man remained a mystery since the crash, but over the past week, Cooper Mayes and his mom were trying to find him. Thanks to social media, they finally did.
Justin Loftis, a wrecker driver at Wallace and Sons' Wrecker Service, said he happened to drive by the crash and jumped in to help Cooper Mayes when he thought he was dead in the water.
"It was probably one of the worst accidents I’ve seen personally. I tried to get him maybe to crack a smile while we were out there to kind of lighten. But ... he was going through a lot and seeing him today -- just a smiling kid, bright kid -- it makes me feel a lot better, it really does," Loftis said.
Cooper Mayes recalled the moment the wreck happened and seeing Loftis stop soon after.
"Lo and behold 10 seconds later Justin comes up, he’s like ‘man are you alive?’ I’m like ‘yeah I’m alive, can’t really move much but," Cooper Mayes said.
This was an emotional night for Paige Mayes as she meet the man that saved her son, but it’s especially impactful when you consider some of the family history for the Mayes'.
"We lost my son Carter about 15, actually 14 years ago in a rollover accident that was very similar to this. And my first thought was ‘we’re here again. We’re here again’," Paige Mayes said.
Thanks to Loftis though, the Mayes family was not there again. The good Samaritan treated her kid like he was one of his own.
"I’ve got kids. And I would want somebody to help my child if I wasn’t there in the moment. And obviously I didn’t know he was a kid. It could’ve been anybody, but I was going to stop and help," Loftis said.
Cooper Mayes came away with some minor head, hand and shoulder injuries, but a much worse fate was avoided and a family kept intact thanks to the service of an East Texan.
"This community, and these people, they’re the hands and feet of Christ," Paige Mayes said.