Vernon

Trucking days over for Good Samaritan

A Lumby trucker says he will never drive again following a brutal beating near Blue River on September 24.



Alex Fraser, a 45-year veteran truck driver, needed reconstructive surgery to repair his broken cheekbone and damaged eye socket, after stopping to help a stranded motorist.



As Fraser asked how he could be of assistance, he was beaten by two or three men and left for dead.



"In 45 years I've never left anybody stranded on the highway," says Fraser.



"I've helped a lot of people and I can't understand why somebody would do this to me. Maybe someone got run off the road and was mad at truckers. But I can't understand how somebody can be so outraged."



The beating has left Fraser, 67, with both mental and physical damage.



"I've got a lot of healing to do inside. I'm going to sell my truck and never get behind the wheel again. I'm finished."



Fraser had just finished hauling goods across the prairies and was driving home from Edmonton on the Yellowhead Highway when the attack happened.



At approximately 10:30 p.m., he was flagged down by two or three men standing by a car.



Fraser asked them if they were having problems. Somebody replied, "no you are."



The last thing Fraser remembers before being hit in the back of the head was a voice saying, "you truckers are all alike."



When he woke up hours later he was still laying in front of his truck.



Robbery was not the motive of the attack says Fraser, who still had his wallet and cash in his pocket.



As dawn approached, Fraser attempted to crawl into his truck, but blacked out. The next thing he remembers is waking up inside the truck's sleeper compartment.



Bloody, bruised and unable to see out of his right eye, he drove the remaining 35 kilometres to Blue River.



He stopped at the Husky station and collapsed as help arrived.



As Fraser's physical wounds slowly heal, he still can't understand one thing -- why.



"That's probably an answer I'll never get."