What do you think is the problem?

Your friend should have set the emergency brake before removing his foot from the regular brake pedal when he parked the truck. Inside of the transmission is a parking pawl that prevents the vehicle from rolling away when the shifter is in park. It basically locks the driveshaft. When parking on a hill, especially a steep hill, the shifter can get "wound up" by the weight of the vehicle against the parking pawl and make it difficult to shift out of park. Setting the emergency brake prevents this. Sounds like the steering column will have to be repaired or replaced. Hope that helps! Jim