Suspended Oriole Davis helps at scene of traffic accident

Mike Soukup was driving southbound on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway on Monday afternoon when he saw a stream of brake lights and then a pillar of smoke.

He then saw a pickup truck sideways on its passenger side. One person had been ejected from the vehicle, he said, and another was pinned underneath the truck. He noticed a pool of gasoline forming on the pavement.

Soukup, 55, pulled over where he saw a man waving at him in the middle of the highway to come help. He began helping the man try to push the truck back on its wheels. About four or five others joined the attempt, and they were finally able to get the truck upright.

After getting the truck up, he turned to the man next to him — the one who was the first on the scene and helping to attend to the man ejected from the truck.

It was Orioles corner infielder Chris Davis.

“I turned to high five the guy for a good job done getting this truck up, and I thought to myself, ‘Man, that looks like Chris Davis,’ ” Soukup said.

Soukup eyed the man up and down, noticing his black shoes with orange stitching. He asked if he was indeed Davis, who is currently serving a 25-game suspension for a second failed drug test for an amphetamine he later revealed was Adderall. Davis hasn’t responded to requests for comment since the suspension was announced Friday.

“When I said, ‘Chris?’ and he said, ‘Yeah,’ back, he did it as if I was saying it to my best friend Bob,” Soukup said. “He was truly sincere when he said he appreciated when I told him I thought he basically got screwed over. He was a real nice guy. He talked to everybody. He talked to the EMTs. But he should wear the No. 19 all the time just so we can tell.

“He was the first guy there. I just didn’t realize it. He was the guy I saw running across the street to help the guy out of the truck, and he was the guy who, when I pulled over, was waving to me saying, come on, hurry up, we’ve got to get this truck up. He was the first person on the scene.”

Ian Brennan, a spokesman for the Baltimore Fire Department, said city units — including three medics and a fire engine, truck, and squad under the direction of an EMS battalion chief — were dispatched to the scene beginning at 1:44 p.m. Monday for a “rescue assignment,” which entails a victim being “trapped” in some way.

The medic units transported three individuals, all to Maryland Shock Trauma Center. One additional patient was transported to Shock Trauma by an Anne Arundel County medic unit, Brennan said.

Lt. Russ Davies, of the Anne Arundel County Fire Department, said a county medical unit responded about 1:52 p.m. Monday to a city request for help at the scene of an overturned vehicle on southbound Route 295 near the exit for Westport, where one person had been ejected and three others were injured.

After responding, an Anne Arundel unit transported a 61-year-old man to Shock Trauma with serious injuries that were not considered life threatening, Davies said.

He said the Anne Arundel County medical personnel at the scene were not aware of Chris Davis being there.

“It was news to us,” he said, of hearing about Davis’ involvement.

After helping Davis push the truck upright, Soukup — a local musician — told Davis he thought he got “screwed” by Major League Baseball, and he said Davis told him he appreciated his sentiment, but Soukup resisted the urge to ask Davis for his autograph.

“I literally had a pen in my shirt pocket, and I asked myself whether I should ask him for his autograph, and I thought, ‘No, it too tacky. With everything going on with the poor man, this is enough.’ I’ll just let it go and maybe I’ll meet him some other time and get his autograph.

“He’s pretty much my favorite Oriole. He seems to be a real nice humble guy who just happens to hit a ball really far. I was supposed to make more stops on my way home, but I thought, I can’t. I’ve got to go home and tell my wife about this because my cell phone wasn’t working.”

MASNSports.com first reported Davis’ involvement at the accident scene.