WAYNE COUNTY, INDIANA, Ind. — A senior at Zionsville High School was recently recognized by local deputies for bravery during a wreck on Interstate 70.
The lessons Chloe Montague learned in school classroom played a big part in helping a family of five.
Traffic that had been going 70 mile per hour came to a halt just west of Richmond on a day in July.
'We saw a car on the side of the road," said Montague. "In a cornfield, actually."
Montague and her mom were traveling back from Ohio when they came upon a wreck and stopped to help.
"She explained to me that none of the family spoke any English," Montague said.
The first responders at the scene didn't speak Spanish.
But 17-year-old Montague did.
"They asked me to ask what happened and how old most of the people were and just what was going on," Montague recounted.
She helped the parents and three daughters stay calm. She even rode to the hospital with some of the injured family members.
"So, they asked me to accompany one of the on-call doctors in each room and translate what was happening."
"She's a hero in my heart," said Wayne County Sheriff Randy Retter.
Retter called Montague's actions "incredible."
"The fact that she was there within minutes, that changed the entire outcome," Retter said.
A happy outcome that was part of a special ceremony at the beginning of the school year. The sheriff and some of his deputies recognized Montague in her Zionsville Spanish class.
"I honestly think it was the right person at the right time type of thing," she said.
The type of thing six years of Spanish classes prepared her for and now painting her a hero.
"I feel like she was a hero to those little girls that were able to stay calm and that the people that were there, they might not understand them, but they were there to help," Chloe's mom, Nikki said.
As for the family Chloe helped, she has this message.
"I hope that you are super healthy and are super happy," the message read, which Montague translated for us. "I wish you nothing but love and happiness for you and your family, and if there was anytime that you wanted to meet up and see me again, I would love to do so."
Chloe plans to minor in Spanish in college and hopes to continue helping other people in the future.
