Newcomb, Seiders Awarded Secretary’s Pin for Lifesaving Efforts

Two employees join others in receiving IDOT’s highest honor: the Secretary’s Pin in recognition of their lifesaving actions. A Chicago minuteman rescued two women from a car engulfed in flames, while a snowbird’s vigilance saved a crew filling potholes on Interstate 55 in central Illinois from a rogue semi.

Here are their stories.

Minuteman Steve Newcomb has been with the department for 22 years, with 18 in Maintenance and four with Emergency Traffic Patrol. Over the years Newcomb has come across many people in need of assis­tance, but on March 1, he encountered a situation he will never forget.

While patrolling the Kennedy Expressway (Interstate 90/94), Newcomb noticed a few cars pulled over on the side of the road. He turned around to investigate.

“I came around a curve and saw a vehicle that had been involved in a crash,” Newcomb said. “Upon pulling up, I saw a bunch of people standing next to the car. I picked up my PA and asked if anybody needed medical attention. One of the people standing there waved, indicating no. At that point I noticed the car was on fire, so I backed up and put some flares down to alert oncoming traffic that there was a hazard ahead so they would slow down.

“I then pulled back up to the vehicle to push it out from under the bridge, so the flames didn’t damage anything. I noticed movement inside the car, so I hopped out of my vehicle and went up to the car and saw two young women still in the vehicle. I immediately went up to the driver, who was screaming for help. By the time I got her out of the vehicle, everybody that had been standing there was gone. I put her down and went back to the vehicle to get the passenger, who was unresponsive and couldn’t come out the driver side. I went around to the passenger side and pounded on the window. I was just about to break the window when the woman picked her head up, unlocked the door and passed out. I opened the door and moved her next to the other woman.”

Once Newcomb had the women away from the burning vehicle, Illinois State Police showed up and began attending to the women. With them taken care of, Newcomb refocused his attention on the vehicle.

“I got back in my truck and pushed the vehicle out of the way as the fire de­partment pulled up to put out the fire,” Newcomb said. “The ambulance took the women, and we cleared the scene.

“About an hour later I was helping another motorist, and news reporters pulled up and told me that the whole incident was filmed. That’s what led to this being all over the news. Looking back, I’m just glad the timing was right and that the girls were able to get out of the car and get the medical attention they needed. I’ve seen enough cars burn up to know that seconds count in these situations.”

Newcomb received the Secretary’s Pin for his heroic efforts in March. Although he was grateful to receive the pin, he took time to share the praise with his coworkers.

“I would like to say that everybody I work with who drives these trucks is a hero,” Newcomb said. “In my opinion we all put our lives at risk and do things every day that save lives, from a simple tire change to pulling up after somebody has crashed and protecting the scene and the crash victims. There’s no way to know how many lives we have saved or injuries we’ve prevented. Everyone here at ETP deserves to be recognized for the job they do.”

Newcomb was also the recipient of another honor.

“When I received the Secretary’s Pin, Public Information Officer Maria Castaneda told me that the White Sox had reached out to invite me to the home opener,” Newcomb said. “Being a lifelong Sox fan, the invitation was surreal. They gave me a jersey with my name on it, and I chose the number 42, which is the last two numbers of the truck assigned to me: 942. I was able to invite some friends and family, and I got to go out on the field during batting practice and meet Ozzie Guillen and Harold Baines. It’s a memory I will cherish for a long time.”

Three-year Snowbird Don Seiders has a gift for being in the right place at the right time. On Feb. 1, Seiders was manning the attenuator truck with a pothole crew just south of Springfield on I-55 and diligently monitoring traffic when he saw a semitrailer barrel­ing towards them.

Seiders quickly gauged the danger of the impending situation and acted fast, laying on his truck’s air horn to warn the men filling potholes so they could run for safety. While the semi made a last-minute effort to turn into the other lane, it was too late. Seconds later, it smashed into the attenuator, destroying it and continuing forward, sideswiping the driver’s side of Seiders’ truck and stopping right where the men had been working. If not for Seiders’ quick warning, a real tragedy could have occurred.

Seiders’ first thought when he looked into the rearview mirror and saw the truck was, “This is the end.” Fortunately, the attenuator truck did what it was designed to do and absorbed the colliding vehicle’s force to prevent a harder impact between the two vehicles. No one was injured.

“I didn’t know if I was walking away from it,” Seiders said. “I didn’t know if anyone was walking away from it. But in the end, it turned out good.”

This is not the first time that Seiders has been in the right place at the right time. Almost one year to the day in 2023, Seiders and his crew were patching potholes on I-55 when a vehicle crashed into a bridge abutment at a high rate of speed. The crew rushed to the vehicle to provide help. When they arrived, the vehicle was on fire and people were trapped in the car. Seiders helped rescue two people, including a little boy.

Secretary Osman awarded Seiders his second Secretary’s Pin in March at the Springfield West maintenance yard, the same place he received his first pin.