Runaway vehicle disaster averted
ACOOL- HEADED police officer from Runcorn who forced a runaway car to a stop, saving the driver and her baby daughter, has been awarded a top honour.
PC Danny Pattison, 35, received the Leicestershire Police Chief Constable’s Commendation for his decisive action in gently forcing the vehicle into the barrier to slow it after the woman behind the wheel lost consciousness.
He told the Weekly News that he had just dealt with another collision when a flurry of 999 calls made it clear something serious was happening on the M1 and he headed to the A42 junction to wait for the car to pass, suspecting that the reports of a car swerving all over the road suggested a drunk driver.
But the true level of danger dawned when Danny pulled alongside the car and saw the driver’s head flopped back, staring blankly above as she drifted in a diabetic coma while the engine revved, suggesting the accelerator was being pressed.
The stakes increased again as he saw a baby sitting in the back, unaware of the peril it faced.
Disaster loomed as the car threatened to leave the road, bouncing off the kerb and he realised he had to act.
With a colleague keeping the three lanes clear behind in a ‘rolling road’, Danny drove his car into the runaway vehicle to force it against the barrier to slow it before pulling in front to bring it to a stop.
Upon removing the keys from the ignition he discovered that the driver’s foot had been wedged on the accelerator.
A colleague shared some of his packed lunch to bring the woman out of her coma before the paramedics arrived and took her to hospital.
Danny rang her husband and then spoke to her the next day, relieved to hear she was ‘fine and really appreciative’ and told him: “I can’t believe what you did.”
Danny, who grew up on Greenbridge Close in Castlefields, and attended Norton Priory school, had trained with the police to box vehicles in to bring them to a stop but he had never done full contact manoeuvres in practice because of the danger and as ‘it would cost a fortune’.
It was enough for the training to kick in when needed.
He said: “On the day when I got behind her and saw the 18-month-old girl in the back of the car, I thought I need to at least slow her down – I didn’t want to crash straight into her because if I disabled my car she would be in the same dangerous situation.
“I got alongside her and slowly eased her into the barrier to get her foot off the accelerator but it didn’t work, her foot was planted on the accelerator.
“It was only when I put her against the barrier the engine was still revving.
“When we made the scene safe I had to get the keys out of the engine.
“She was totally out of it, looking blankly forward, foot down on the accelerator.”
He added: “The worst part of it was the 18-month-old in the back – I’ve got a five-year-old myself. I thought it’s not just dangerous for her but the child.
“When I was making the decision of ‘I’m going to have to put it into the barrier to stop her, I was thinking I don’t want to do it forcefully and disable the car.
“There was a point when I was behind her when there was no barrier on the motorway and she started to drift across to the left, on the hard shoulder but luckily she bounced off the kerb and I made the decision ‘I’m going to have to put her into the barrier, I don’t want to see her going off the road’.”
Danny’s colleagues including the controllers who co-ordinated the rescue also received awards.
He said; “It was really well-managed, from me getting the initial information, the guys in the control room keeping it on camera and us on the ground and the reality of stopping it, it was one of those jobs that came together really well.”