A local man is being called a hero after running out into on-coming traffic to save lives on Interstate 81.
Witnesses said snow caused the mess, and if it weren't for his quick thinking, there would have been even more cars involved.

"He definitely saved a lot of people from getting hurt more. It could have been a lot worse," said Stacey Mullins.

She was talking about Chris Ritneour. When he heard what sounded like a bad car accident on Interstate 81, he jumped a fence and went running.

"We heard, 'Bang, bang, bang!' Next thing you know, I took off across the road and looked, and sure enough there is a pile up," said Chris Ritneour. From there, he took matters into his own hands. "I couldn't really see because it was snowing so hard, so I ran against traffic and motioned my hands for everybody to slow down," said Ritneour.

"All of a sudden, we see a guy waving his arms, and I said what is that? My husband, at about that time, saw the break lights in front of us," said Mullins. They eventually got their car under control and saw what had happened.
"There were two cars kind of under a tractor trailer in front of us. So, my husband actually got out of the car to make sure everyone was okay," she said.

Ritneour said there was one man trapped in his truck. "They had to get the jaws of life out to get him out, but he was okay," he said.

Witnesses said some folks had injuries and if it weren't for Ritneour's quick thinking, it could have been a lot worse."He was definitely a guardian angel to all of us. It was definitely a blessing," said Mullins.

As for Ritneour, he was almost hit by a car a few times and still said he was in the right place at the right time. What does he think about all of this? "After everybody had wrecked, the snow stopped. It started melting. It was like, what the heck? It was kind of messed up," said Ritneour.

Now, he wants everyone to remember, that even if the speed limit is over 60 miles per hour, if it's snowing, you need to slow down.