It’s a night June Johnson says she’ll never forget.
The California native was driving from the U.S. to her home in Quebec City on Highway 73 on the night of Jan. 30 when she lost control of her car and flipped upside down into a ditch.
But what could have been a traumatic experience, she says, turned into a blessing in disguise of sorts.
“Within seconds of all this happening, all of a sudden, here are these guys going, ‘Are you OK? Are you OK?’” she recalls. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m OK.’ And there’s this arm reaching in and unclicking the seatbelt strap, and they pull me out.”
Johnson says she didn’t know it at the time, but she was being rescued by members of Les Bataillon Saint-Hyacinthe, a team in the North American Hockey League (NAHL), who were heading home from a game in the Beauce region.
“As soon as I could, I ran to the car,” Samuel Loiselle, a newly-traded defenceman with the team, told CTV News at the time. “I opened the door. It was kind of heavy because the car was upside down, so gravity was against me.”
Johnson says she counts herself lucky that she was not injured in the incident, sharing that eight years ago, she experienced a “considerable, long-term trauma” that left her with complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD).
“I’ve been working on the healing process and getting better, and the irony of this experience is that they pulled me out so quickly, and then they stood by me,” she said.
In the chaos, Johnson says she didn’t get a chance to thank the men who saved her — or get their names.
“They could not have been kinder and did everything they could to help me,” she said, tearing up. “It did restore my faith in humanity. We are here to help each other and be there when someone’s in need.”
‘Thank you’
Following the incident, Johnson reached out to CTV News to ask for more information about the men who rescued her.
After some back-and-forth between the parties, Johnson finally got a chance to speak with Loiselle.
“Nice to meet you once again,” he said as she introduced herself. “In better conditions.”
“Yes, thank you,” she replied. “I cannot thank you guys enough. I think if you didn’t get me out of there so quickly, that would have been traumatizing.”
Loiselle then recounted his version of events, telling Johnson that he was the one who reached her first as she hung upside down in her car.
“It gave me faith in humanity again,” she told him. “This is making a difference for the whole rest of my life.”
“Wow, that’s a very nice outcome for a bad situation,” he responded.
“Exactly, I feel so much gratitude towards you,” she answered as the two said goodbye.
Johnson says she will never forget the team’s quick-thinking kindness and will be grateful to them for the rest of her life.
Plus, she quips, the Bataillon Saint-Hyacinthe now have one more fan — for life.
