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Ravine rescue

Murphy, NC, Postmaster Harley Hensley

Harley Hensley, the Postmaster of Murphy, NC, was recently making a Priority Mail Express delivery when he spotted a woman walking aimlessly on curvy, rural stretch of highway.

As Hensley stopped to check on the woman, he saw a wrecked car at the bottom of a ravine and heard a man — her husband — yelling to see if she was all right.

The Postal Service employee rushed down into the ravine and found the man pinned inside the vehicle.

With no cellphone service in the area, Hensley asked a concerned passerby to drive until they could get a signal and call 911.

Frightened by the smell of leaking gasoline, the man was desperate to escape the vehicle, so Hensley forced a door open and eased him onto a grassy area until emergency responders arrived and took the couple to a hospital.

“I couldn’t be more proud of Harley’s actions,” said Clara Deaver, the local acting Post Office operations manager. “He always knows the right thing to do and works well under pressure.”

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