Local 455 UPS Package Car Driver Aids Man in Distress
Local 455 union steward Marc Compean, a UPS package car driver, was making a delivery to a Metro PCS Store late last month when he saw a group of people crowded around a car where a man inside the vehicle was clearly in distress – struggling to breathe and turning blue. Compean, 25, a six-year-UPS driver, knew immediately the man was having a seizure.
Seeing that he needed help, and that his wife was too panicked to assist, Compean heard his mother’s words to him over the years. “My mom always told me you have the ability to not overreact,” Compean said “I have, through God, the ability not to panic. I’ll gladly help when I can.”
“When I got to the car, the man’s head was facing up, he was still seizing, and his lips were turning purple,” Compean said. He tilted the man’s head to clear his airway and allow him to breathe again. Compean stayed until EMTs arrived, then moved on to the next stop on his route.
For Compean, a steward for one year, helping someone in crisis is completely familiar. Union stewards, the backbone of the Teamsters Union, run to fires to extinguish them, not away. Compean is one of nearly 400 Teamsters Local 455 stewards -- sisters and brothers who have committed to step into the most difficult situations to enforce our contracts.
Said Scott Andersen, Local 455 Business Agent: “It takes a special kind of person to put themselves aside and stand up for others. Marc is one of those special people.”
Compean still doesn’t know the name of the man he helped, where he lives, or anything more about him. He speaks humbly about the experience: “I was at the right place at the right time.”