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The American Red Cross Honors a VTA Hero!

San Jose, Calif. – The American Red Cross Santa Clara Valley Chapter will be honoring Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Transit Division Supervisor Rayfield Halsell at its Real Heroes Breakfast on Wednesday May 21, 2008.

The breakfast celebration aims to recognize local individuals whose extraordinary acts of courage or kindness make them a hero.   Mr. Halsell will be honored as a Good Samaritan Adult Hero for the bravery he showed during a solo spin-out accident involving a mother and baby, he witnessed on a remote road along the Altamont Pass last year.  Supervisor Halsell was recognized by the VTA Board of Directors for his act of heroism last month. 

Mr. Halsell was traveling home in San Joaquin County when a strong gust of wind caused a nearby SUV to roll.  He witnessed the vehicle overcorrect, violently flip over three times, roll into a dirt embankment and ultimately land upright on the side of the road.  Supervisor Halsell remained calm as he approached to aide the occupants of the SUV.  “I ran to their rescue and that’s when I saw a mother covered in blood and discovered there was a crying baby in the back,” Mr. Halsell recalled.  After smashing the rear window, he got the 6-month old child out and secured the baby in his vehicle before returning to help the driver. 

CHP officers who arrived to the scene afterward explained they had not received any calls about the incident and that the mother and child were very fortunate to have Halsell stop to help.   The two visited VTA’s Cerone Division to personally thank Mr. Halsell a few days later.   Supervisor Halsell is a former peace officer of 20 years and is a safety trained professional.  During the rescue effort,  Mr. Halsell noted he made sure to park his vehicle away from the SUV in case it exploded, “My military experience, police training and humanitarianism all kicked into gear at once and I acted on impulse.”  

The Real Heroes Breakfast will be held at the Doubletree Hotel in San Jose, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

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About VTA
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is an independent special district responsible for bus, light rail and paratransit operations; congestion management; specific highway improvement projects; and countywide transportation planning. As such, VTA is both an accessible transit provider and multi-modal transportation planning organization involved with transit, highways and roadways, bikeways and pedestrian facilities.

For more information about VTA services, call VTA Customer Service at (408) 321-2300, (408) 321-2330 (TDD only). Or, log on to www.vta.org.