I have worked as a freight truck driver for a small company out of northern Florida for the past 6 years. Everyday feels exactly the same as I’m glued to the road often driving across multiple states with little to no rest time. However, one trip particularly stood out, in a rather chilling and unnerving way. I was scheduled to drop off a full trailer to a neighboring town just outside of New York City.
Just before departing, my boss ran out and told me that I’d be driving another truck for the trip, so I made the last minute switch. The drive would be about 15 and a half hours, not including stops in between. I was scheduled to set off for New York at about 5pm and arrive around 9:30am. The first few hours felt like the same monotonous hours I’d always drive multiple times a week, until i noticed something strange at my first rest stop. I pulled into a gas station to get a cup off coffee when I noticed an all black Cadillac SUV pull up right next to where I parked my semi truck. It seemed a little strange that a car would park in the semi truck parking lot section, but I didn’t think much of it. I walked out of the gas station towards my truck and approached the door to get in. While doing this, I glanced at the car to see who it was, but the windows had a very dark tint. It had to be the one of the darkest tints I’ve ever seen on a car.
Carrying on with my business, I buckled in and resumed my journey to New York. Another few hours went by when I started getting the low gas alert on the dashboard. It was around 3am now so it was still very dark out - and I wanted to ensure I found an open gas station. Only a couple minutes off the highway, I found a gas station so I could fill up my tank. As soon as I got out, I noticed the same exact Cadillac that I saw at the previous rest stop earlier. I thought to myself how it was a funny coincidence as I made my way into the gas station to use the restroom. Upon closing the door, I heard a knock,so I yelled out “just a minute” and it stopped. As I began washing my hands, I could hear what sounded to be two men talking in Spanish right outside the door. I walked out of the restroom and nodded my head at them to only be stared down, noticing they were both wearing suits. I headed straight for the truck, noticing that I was being followed. The one man, who was covered in face tattoos, yelled something at me in Spanish as I climbed in. Something really seemed off about these guys. I continued going about my business and drove off. Now aware of these people and the car, I would occasionally look in the rear view mirror to see if they were following me.
Just as I had suspected, I noticed a set of headlights following me about 100 yards behind me. A million thoughts started to race through my head, and I wondered why I was being followed. I thought it would be a good idea to notify my boss after trying to convince myself it was not a big deal and it was a coincidence, but I just had a strange feeling in my gut that something was off. Unsurprisingly, he never answered. But I wasn’t surprised considering it was 6 AM and he would most likely be sleeping still. I continued on with my trip, constantly checking behind me but only to see the same set of headlights traveling at the same distance behind me. This continued for another few hours, as I approached my final destination to deliver, but this situation began to get worse.
The car trailing me all of the sudden caught up to my back bumper and began tailgating me and honking the horn. This continued for about 10 minutes as I told myself not to stop or slow down no matter what. All of this time, I had been thinking of viable solutions to resolve this strange problem I had. I didn’t want to involve police because my boss was very strict about our delivery times and efficiency and you never know how long you could get held up when you’re dealing with the police. I decided the best option would to be to drive to the original destination and sort out whatever was going on with the people in the car behind me once I got there. As i pulled in, I was unsurprised to see the Cadillac folllowing me in. I approached my unloading dock until the car sped up and maneuvered right in front of me, cutting me off and forcing me to stop. The fear began to really creep into me. The four doors of the Cadillac simultaneously swung open as four men in suits emerged from the vehicle, carrying automatic weapons. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I was ordered out of the truck and to my knees, as I watched the men search the trailer. I was confused and had so many thoughts racing through my head at once. I thought about my family and if id ever get to see them again. It all felt like a blur as I continued to kneel on the pavement, frozen, listening to and watching the Spanish speaking men. Several angry words were shouted to the man with face tattoos, who responded in a very similar tone. For some strange reason, the four of them climbed back into their Cadillac and sped off, leaving me kneeling on the concrete.
At this point, I obviously called the police and explained everything that had just happened. This sparked a huge investigation into who these armed and dangerous men were and why they did this. Months went by of pure confusion until I got a call from one the detectives working on the case. He told me that the men who followed me work for a Mexican drug cartel and they heard I was the driver who’d be driving one of their trucks filled with heroin that they were responsible for smuggling across the the country. Once they entered my trailer, they realized they had the wrong truck, and ran away because they had already been seen on camera at the drop off spot I drove to, in addition to the several workers outside the building.
Their plan was most likely to rob me once I made it to the drop off location, and then kill me so there would be no witnesses to the robbery. I still have the same job today and work for the same company, but I’d be lying if I said that the situation hasnt crossed my mind every time I drive. I really lucked out that I was switched to drive the other semi truck for this trip, instead of there’s. If I was, I probably wouldn’t be around to tell this story.
Let me know what you think.