TORONTO, — When the Ontario Provincial Police sent Merv Connolly a letter advising him he’d been nominated for a lifesaver award earlier this year, the Dutton, Ont.-based owner-operator couldn’t figure out why.

As a 38-year veteran, Connolly has witnessed countless accidents across the continent, and has helped out at many of them. But when he recently came to the aid of three St. Clair College students who’d flipped their car on their way back to Windsor, Ont., his actions caught the attention of the OPP.

“When my wife got the letter, I asked her to call them up and see if they got the right person, because to me, I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary,” says Connolly, who works for L.E. Walker Transport in St. Thomas, Ont.

Perhaps nothing out of the ordinary for Connolly, but for the three victims, things might not have turned out so well were it not for his actions, and those of another driver who’d stopped at the scene.

“I was approaching Windsor, just south of the scales, and noticed another truck about a half-mile ahead pulling off to the side of the road,” recounts Connolly. “I looked in the ditch and there was an overturned car with smoke coming from the front end. I noticed a puff of smoke and a bit of flame coming from the engine. I pulled over in front of the other truck, and ran to the overturned car. The other driver, a TNT guy, was already down there looking to see what had happened.”

While it wasn’t the most horrific accident scene Connolly’s ever witnessed, he quickly realized that the three needed help. One passenger had been ejected from the car, landing in the ditch before being struck by the car as it plowed in. Another passenger had been thrown some 20 feet from the car.

“I helped the one guy out of the ditch and he was obviously hurt; the other guy was walking around in a daze and saying, ‘my friend, my friend.’ That’s when I realized there was someone else in the car — the driver. The vehicle had flipped over. Its roof was torn open and the driver was partially pinned under the car,” he recounts.

He and a few others that had gathered tried to lift the car, but they couldn’t get it high enough. A police officer arrived next. Connolly and the others managed to lift the car enough to free the trapped driver and the officer got him out. Other than some cuts and bruises, the driver was fine, but the guy who’d been thrown and then hit was in rough shape — he had a broken collarbone and internal injuries, including a ruptured spleen.

“That guy almost didn’t make it,” says Connolly.

Connolly never heard anything more about the accident until he was contacted by the OPP with an invitation for him and his family to a gala event in Kettle Point, Ont., where he was honoured alongside other civilian and police heroes for his roadside actions.

He says he was truly taken aback by the award because he did nothing more than he normally would at coming upon an accident scene — and he’s seen plenty over the years, not all with happy outcomes.

But despite the tragedies he’s witnessed, Connolly loves life behind the wheel. He started out with his dad’s trucking business — Connolly Transport in London, Ont. — washing tankers on Saturdays for $5 a shot. When he was 16, he bought his own tandem stake truck, eventually working his way up to his first tractor, a 1966 White Mustang with a gas engine and a two-stick transmission. He’s been on the road since, largely as an owner-op, and while he’s thinking about semi-retirement in a couple of years, he can’t fathom a life entirely removed from trucking.