Updated

A Maryland man heading north for a vacation with his two sons died early Monday after he tried to help a crash victim on a Connecticut highway.

Richard Herron, 83, of Elkton, stopped his vehicle on I-84 outside Hartford to help a woman whose Ford Explorer had flipped, the Hartford Courant reports.

But while helping crash victim Sheila Jenkins, a tractor-trailor came barreling through the darkness at Herron, who leaped over a barrier, not knowing there was a 35-foot drop below.

Herron was conscious after he fell into a gravel parking lot, the newspaper reports, but he later died at a local hospital.

His daughter said he was traveling to Maine to do four-wheeling and hunting with his sons, Tom and Larry. Herron leaves behind his wife of 61 years, Marjorie.

Jenkins suffered minor cuts from the crash, which was the result of driving too fast, police said.

Click for more from the Hartford Courant.