“It was just heartwarming to know that this person stopped for me.”
Dusty Acevedo allowed herself to smile. The week got off to a rough start for the Kaiser Permanente nurse.
Acevedo said she left her Rancho Penasquitos home Monday morning and headed down Interstate 15 toward work.
“I’m listening to the radio, and I felt a big boom on the side of my car,” Acevedo recalled. “I didn’t see it. I didn’t see anything. I only felt it.”
Acevedo doesn’t know if it was an 18-wheeler, a box truck or an SUV.
“The next thing I knew, I was out of control, spinning across four lanes,” Acevedo gestured with her hands. “I have no idea how I missed going across four lanes, how I didn’t get into a pileup of cars.”
Acevedo said her car smashed into the concrete divider and airbags exploded around her.
“I thought it was the end,” Acevedo said. “That’s when this amazing man showed up, and he opened my car and said, ‘Are you OK? Do you need help?’ ”
Acevedo said the man put her in his car to keep her warm until police arrived.
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“He was amazing," Acevedo said. "He was the only one who stopped.”
Unfortunately, the nurse doesn't remember his name. She barely remembers what he looked like.
“Late 30s, 30s ... um, thin build, I believe," Acevedo said. "I can’t really remember. He might have had a mustache.”
Acevedo couldn’t even remember if he was Black, white or Hispanic.
“Really, it’s sort of a blur, and when you’re in shock, I can hardly visualize it,” Acevedo said, sighing.
Acevedo said the California Highway Patrol told her they stopped a truck farther down the freeway. However, she still doesn’t know who hit her and she doesn’t know the identity of the Good Samaritan.
“I would like to find him, thank him," Acevedo said. “If he needs anything, I want to help him. I just … he was my guardian angel that day. It absolutely renews my faith in humanity.”
Anyone who knows the identity of the man who helped Acevedo can contact NBC 7 at 619-578-0201 or NBCSanDiego.desk@nbcuni.com.
