A Reluctant Hero At the Prattville Post Office

Rural Carrier Mark Knight

On June 28, Prattville Rural Carrier Mark Knight was delivering mail to a lone mailbox on a dirt road when heard a loud sound, looked up, and saw smoke rising in the distance across a nearby field.

 He drove towards it, and when he rounded the corner, he saw the source of the smoke: a truck had swerved into the ditch. It was on fire.

Mark stopped at the scene of the crash, as did another passer-by. Both drivers jumped  out to help. “Call 911,” Mark yelled as he ran towards the burning vehicle.

When he saw a man on the floorboards of the burning truck, he remembers saying out loud,” Jesus, help me.”

Flames leapt from under the hood, and thick smoke poured out. “Get out!” he yelled as he tried to open the doors, which wouldn’t budge. Nor would the man inside, who moved around a bit and muttered but was unresponsive to Mark’s instructions.

Unable to open any of the doors, Mark reached in an open window, grabbed the man under the armpits, and proceeded to drag him out. “Whatcha doin’?” the man said.

“Man, I’m getting you out of your truck--it’s on fire!” Mark said, as he continued dragging him far away from the vehicle.

Later, Mark said.” I don’t know if he was drunk or if he just had head trauma because he was saying stuff that didn’t make any sense.”

Within five minutes, the rescue crew was there and the man was receiving aid, so Mark got back in his own vehicle and drove away. That’s when the gravity of the situation hit him: “I guess I just realized that I could have died if that truck had blown up on me. Actually, I was thinking about it when I was hollering at the guy to get out, but it kind of set in as I was driving away. That wouldn’t have changed nothing—you can’t leave somebody in there.”

His clothes were covered with blood from the man’s broken nose, and Mark still had mail to deliver, so he stopped off at his nearby home, changed his clothes, and finished his route.

The only person he told about the incident was his wife, who had been at home upon his return.

But witnesses at the scene had called the local newspaper. A week later, when a reporter called Prattville Postmaster Keith Farrar for comment, he was taken by surprise. “I said that I didn’t know anything about it, “ Farrar said.

When the reporter called Mark’s proud wife, she told him, “It’s not uncommon for my husband to come home with blood on him. Just this time, it was somebody else’s.”

He is a reluctant, humble hero who insists on minimizing his role in the man’s rescue

“I didn’t tell anyone at work. I really didn’t want anybody to know,” he said. “Five minutes after I put him on the ground, the fire truck arrived. The truck was still burning, but the fire never reached the cab. In hindsight, I thought that I didn’t really save anybody’s life.

He added that the only reason that he agreed to do this interview was because he wants to help improve employee morale: so many carriers help people in the course of their daily work routines, and he wants that to be recognized.

The victim’s identity and status remain a mystery. “He was in his 50’s or 60’s. I don’t know who he is or how he’s doing,” Mark said.

 Prattville Postmaster Keith Farrar (left) with Rural Carrier Mark Knight