A truck driver played the part in the rescue of a man trapped in his wrecked vehicle for 12 hours in Vermont on Wednesday. 

The incident began in Richmond, Vermont at about 9 p.m. on Wednesday, July 20th, but the motorist was not rescued until the following morning.

According to VT Digger News, 29-year-old Dakota Rockwell drove off the side of Interstate 89 south and rolled about 40 feet down an embankment. Rockwell sustained a broken ankle and severe cuts to his face and was unable to exit the vehicle, officers say. 

The next morning, police received a call about a car off the road near mile marker 78 on I-89 southbound, prompting a trooper to drive “through the general area,” but he did not see any signs of a crash. Over an hour later, a truck driver contacted police to report a car off the roadway near the same area, and an officer drove by again. The officer soon found a wrecked car in an area “not easily observed from the highway.” 

“The initial call did not have a specific location of where the crash occurred,” Adam Silverman said. “The subsequent report had a more specific location, which enabled the responding trooper to find evidence of the crash (and) locate the vehicle.” 

Officers say that “the only visible indication of a crash was some debris on the side of the road,” and admit that the trucker must have been “really paying attention” to notice anything was wrong. 

Rockwell did not respond to requests for comment and no further information has been released.