In a heroic effort, a 10-year-old boy from Montgomery averted a potential road disaster by quickly taking control of the truck and steering it to safety, when the elderly driver went into diabetic shock and was going in and out of consciousness.
The young boy was taking a ride along with Mr Alfred Smith, his 70-year-old neighbor, in his pick-up truck. While they were driving, the elderly man began to lose his consciousness and the truck started swerving into traffic on the busy interstate.
Special agent Eric Salvador was on the interstate (I 65) heading in the same direction as the truck and noticed that the vehicle was dangerously veering back and forth across three lanes of traffic.
Salvador said that he had made a traffic stop, turned on his lights and sirens, but the vehicle had refused to stop. Hence, Salvador continued following the truck for several miles and it turned off the Interstate.
The special agent again turned on his lights and sirens signaling the truck to come to halt, but instead the vehicle veered off into oncoming traffic and even ran a red light. Apparently, the truck forced some cars to run off the road and almost hit several other cars head-on.
The nerve-wracking chase finally came to an end after 10 miles, all thanks to young Christopher for his quick thinking and taking control of the situation.
"I didn't want us to die. The police were behind us the whole time with their lights on. I told him to stop, and he kept going. I put my foot on the brake, and I got the steering wheel and pulled it over and put it in park." said Christopher.
Senior Trooper Lee Walls, Salvador's former partner, responded to the call and arrived at the scene of emergency.
On approaching the vehicle that had finally come to a standstill, Salvador realized that he was dealing with a medical emergency. Paramedics arrived at the scene and tended to Smith. He was subsequently taken to a local hospital. Trooper Walls took Christopher safely to his patrol car.
Fortunately, neither Christopher nor anyone else was injured during this scary ordeal.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) shared the incident on Facebook and the post has gone viral. The Facebook post includes a picture of 10-year-old Christopher standing alongside Agent Salvador and Trooper Lee Walls.
