DIXON, Illinois — A hero driver was caught on tape leaping into action to save a fellow motorist having a seizure behind the wheel from a nasty accident at a busy Illinois intersection.
Police say the terrifying episode unfolded late in the afternoon last Friday when the stricken driver ran a red light and began drifting into oncoming traffic in downtown Dixon.
That’s when Randy Tompkins, who was sitting behind the wheel of his pickup truck with his wife beside him in the opposite lane, sprang into action, with the whole thing being captured on the dashboard camera of a nearby police car.
At approximately 4:06 p.m. yesterday afternoon, one of our squad cars was on routine patrol approaching the intersection of 4th Avenue and North Galena Avenue.
Officers observed a blue passenger car traveling north on North Galena Avenue and had disobeyed the red traffic signal at that intersection. The car proceeded through the intersection, almost striking several vehicles. Our squad car activated its emergency lights in an attempt to conduct a traffic stop on the car. The car proceeded north at a low rate of speed and began traveling into the oncoming lanes of travel.
A truck, that was southbound in the 1300 block of North Galena Avenue, had to back up to avoid being struck by the car. The driver of the truck could see the driver of the car and observed that something looked medically wrong. The driver of the truck (later identified as Dixon resident Randy Tompkins) exited his vehicle, ran up to the car and without hesitation jumped into the car through the passenger side window in an attempt to stop it. Tompkins was able to get the car in park just as officers approached the vehicle as well. The driver of the vehicle was found to be having a seizure.
Tompkins and the two officers stood by until Dixon City Fire arrived and transported the driver to KSB Hospital. We want to thank Tompkins for his heroism and for coming to a complete stranger’s aid!
#DixonProudPosted by Dixon, Illinois Police Department on Saturday, June 3, 2017
First, Tompkins backed his vehicle up and out of the way of the oncoming motorist and then raced out of his car and dove headlong through the passenger window of the sick driver’s car and pulled the parking brake.
“I saw him come out from behind the traffic, and he almost hit me in my lane,” the 39-year-old Tompkins told the Northwest Herald. “I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t realize he was having a seizure until he got to the intersection.”
The quick-thinking Tompkins said it all happened in a blur, but that he “just did what had to be done”.
“He was in danger himself, and he was a danger to others,” Tompkins said. “My adrenaline was pumping, and I just reacted.”
Police say the driver, who was described as a man in his 20s or 30s, had indeed had a seizure and was taken to a local hospital and later released.
“We want to thank Tompkins for his heroism and for coming to a complete stranger’s aid!” the Dixon Police wrote on Facebook.
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