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Couple honors man who died helping them after auto accident

PARKERSBURG -- A man killed while helping a couple in an accident on Interstate 77 is being described as a hero.

Joseph E. Ellison and his girlfriend, Amanda Carpenter, of Parkersburg were driving north on I-77 just past midnight Dec. 17 when the 1997 Ford Ranger Ellison was driving slid out of control on ice near the Worthington Creek Bridge.

The truck spun around and ended up in a ditch, from where Ellison said he called for a tow truck.

"We were fine and the truck was fine," Ellison said.

Passing by was truck driver Scott Banks, 52, of Mansfield, Ohio, who stopped to see if anyone was hurt, Ellison said. Banks was assured no one was injured, but he remained with a flashlight to warn other drivers of the slick road and the vehicle in the ditch, Ellison said.

"He was using his flashlight to warn other cars," Ellison said.

Ellison said he and Banks were talking, then Ellison realized he had better call his mother, Christina Anderson, and tell her about her truck in the ditch. He took three steps away and that's when a 2005 Durango carrying seven people slid on the same patch of ice and collided with the truck and struck Banks, Ellison said.

"It just went right through Scott," Ellison said.

Ellison stayed with Banks until emergency medical crews arrived. Banks later died at Marietta Memorial Hospital and the occupants of the Durango were taken to the hospital with for non-life threatening injuries.

Services for Banks were held Thursday. He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Sandy, sons Chris and Mike, three brothers, two sisters and two grandchildren.

Ellison, Carpenter and his mother attended the services in Mansfield. He and the family have become friends.

"It was very difficult," he said. "It still is."

Ellison established a GoFundMe account at https://www.gofundme.cm/hero-memorial-fund-for-scott-banks to help with whatever expenses the family may have. The goal is $5,000, of which $1,475 have been raised as of Monday from 33 people.

Mrs. Banks is appreciative of the outpouring of support, the account, the support from work and her and her family's new friendships with Ellison and his mother and girlfriend.

"I'm telling you it's unreal," she said. "I knew there are still good people out there."

Banks, a 1983 graduate of Lucas High School and the Pioneer Career and Technology Center, was a truck driver employed at Cowen Truck Line. He loved his family and grandchildren, hunting and camping and country music.

It wasn't unusual for Banks to help stranded motorists, either in his personal car or the truck, Mrs. Banks said.

"Not at all. Not at all," she said.

Banks did that even after he and another truck driver years ago were robbed while helping a woman they thought was stranded, Mrs. Banks said.

"She was a decoy," Mrs. Banks said.

The stranded driver was at her car with the hood up, Mrs. Banks said. Her husband stopped to help, at which time four men came out of the woods and robbed him and another truck driver who also stopped to help, she said.

"They got both of them," she said.

The assailants held a knife to Bank's back, she said. The car had no license plate, which should have been a tip off something was wrong, she said.

Banks became more cautious after the incident, "but he still helped people after that," Mrs. Banks said.