Jerod Shane Wilson helped to rescue Kara L. Roberts from a runaway vehicle, Hayden, Alabama, December 13, 1999. Ms. Roberts, 28, was driving a sport-utility vehicle, which weighed about 4,000 pounds, on an interstate highway when she lost consciousness. Traveling at about the speed limit, the vehicle entered the median and repeatedly struck a concrete barrier as it continued forward. Driving on the same highway, Wilson, 30, college student, saw the vehicle’s errant course, then saw Ms. Roberts apparently unconscious inside. He pulled his 2,000-pound compact car in front of the runaway and slowed, allowing the sport-utility vehicle to strike the rear of the car. The runaway did not stop but struck Wilson’s car repeatedly, then veered across the highway with it. Wilson’s car left the highway and struck the guide rail along the shoulder, at about which time the runaway vehicle struck his car again. The vehicles then turned and, slowed somewhat, continued forward on the shoulder. As Wilson prepared to let the runaway strike his car again, a man driving a loaded delivery truck arrived and positioned his vehicle in front of the runaway. He took both vehicles to a stop on the shoulder, then responded to Ms. Roberts’s vehicle, gained entry, and turned off the engine. Ms. Roberts was taken to the hospital but was uninjured. Wilson, whose vehicle was badly damaged, also was taken to the hospital, as he suffered neck, hip, and back pain. He had difficulty walking for more than a month, but he recovered.
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