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Hero boy aged 10 halts runaway truck with unconscious elderly driver behind wheel
Quick thinking Christopher Wheeler was a passenger in Alfred Smith's vehicle on Thursday as they travelled to a local scrap yard.
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But as the 70-year-old drove along Alabama's I-65, he suffered a diabetic attack and lost control, swerving across three lanes of traffic.
With police in pursuit, they failed at first to realise Alfred was seriously ill and tried to make his vehicle come to a stop.
As the truck moved onto an area of Highway 14 with no dividing wall, it then began to drift into oncoming traffic.
As it fishtailed from side-to-side, Christopher jumped across from the passenger seat taking control of the steering wheel and putting his foot on the brake.
The schoolboy eventually managed to bring the vehicle to a halt on the hard shoulder.
"I didn't want us to die,'' Christopher said. 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."
Special Agent Eric Salvador, who was behind the truck, said: The vehicle was swerving all over the road, back and forth across three lanes of traffic and running cars off the road. It almost hit the centre wall several times.
Senior State Trooper Lee Walls joined in the pursuit and tried to get Smith to pull over but to no avail.
It was then they realised the pensioner was having a severe diabetic attack.
Describing Christopher's heroics, State Trooper Walls said: "He probably saved some lives - his own, the driver, oncoming traffic.
"He was the main contributing factor in getting that car to stop. He was mature beyond his years.
"'Without the heroism of that child, I think they would have crashed off the road or into another vehicle.
Special Agent Eric Salvador added: "I think he saved a lot of lives out there. I've been in law enforcement eight years and I've never seen anything like this."
Alfred was taken to hospital after his diabetic attack, but is now in "good condition".
As a result of the encounter, for which Christopher was rewarded with a fast food meal by Trooper Walls, he now wants to join the police when he leaves school.