Virginia’s inexcusable snowbound crisis last week, when motorists were trapped in their vehicles for more than 24 hours while the state’s governor dithered, did have the compensating virtue of revealing some local ethics heroes. Another whose ethical instincts and heroism recently surfaced is DaVante Williams.

The part-time Uber driver didn’t know that the winter storm had created a 50-mile-long backup when he agreed to drive a teenage girl from Washington, DC’s Union Station to Williamsburg, Virginia, a lengthy journey. Her train had been cancelled because of the weather conditions, and it was 2 am. They were about 20 miles into the typically two-and-a-half hour trip when Williams realized the chances of them reaching Williamsburg were slim because of the back-up on I-95. He tried an alternate route but was foiled when police directed him back onto the Interstate because those roads were also closed due to downed trees and power lines.

Williams didn’t want to give up, but he had no blankets in the car and he was concerned about his gas getting low with no way to reach a filling station. He finally followed a work truck and some other cars to turn around on I-95 and head back to DC. But the young woman in his back seat was obviously exhausted and stressed. Instead of dropping her off again at the train station in the early morning hours, Williams took her to a nearby hotel on Capitol Hill, paying for the room himself. He also offered to drive her to Williamsburg at no charge once the highway cleared.