Fire Rescue News- FIREFIGHTER STOPS DRIVERLESS, OUT OF CONTROL CAR
WILDWOOD--The fast actions of a local firefighter are to thank for stopping an out of control car with no driver at the wheel. Since no serious damage was done, officials are chalking this one up as one of the funnier calls they've ever responded to.
We've all seen people doing crazy things in cars, but....Continue Reading
cell phone video taken Sunday afternoon shows a car was doing it all on it's own. "Who's car is that," you can hear someone ask on the video. Another person responded with "I don't know, but it's...totaled."
"We never had to deal with a car going in a circle." But that was the scene on Hand Avenue where Wildwood police and firefighters were called to...a car doing donuts in reverse, with no one behind the wheel, as it's occupants watched helplessly from the curb. "We were concerned that it would change trajectory when it was bouncing up on the curb, that the tire would go in an opposite direction and send it into something else," said Captain Christopher D'Amico, "you had to do something, the guy's car was getting destroyed."
So, after brainstorming, Captain D'Amico decided the best plan of action was for him, to try and get in and stop the 1970 Ford Thunderbird that was spinning out of control. "I got into the inside circle of the car, which was a lot slower and shorter," he explained, "and the passenger side window was down, I just hoofed myself into the car, shut it off and put it in park. It came to a stop."
The captain said the guys told him the passenger and driver were switching spots in the car and when they put the car into park, it accidentally slipped into reverse instead. "Soon as they got out, the car took off, they tried chasing it down, obviously, that's how the door got opened," said D'Amico.
Luckily, no one was seriously hurt and no property damage was done, making this one call the captain certainly won't forget. He says, it's just another day in the life of being a firefighter. "Definitely interesting."
The car had to be towed after the driver-side door was torn off. Authorities say one person was injured after he tried, unsuccessfully, to get back into the vehicle, but is OK
