An Illinois officer is being hailed as a hero after he jumped into action within minutes when a pregnant woman called 911 to say her brakes had suddenly stopped working and she was quickly approaching a lake.
The Williamson County Sheriff's office said it received a 911 call from a driver who said her vehicle "would not stop" early Monday morning.
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Officers caught up to the woman, who said she was on her way to pick up a relative from work, as she traveled westbound on old route 13 at Division Street near Carterville in downstate Illinois.
"The vehicle had brake lights visibly activated however, the vehicle was not decelerating and continued traveling at approximately 30 miles per hour," the sheriff's office wrote on social media.
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The deputies followed the driver for a brief time before determining it was unsafe for her to continue, "and a rolling road block was conducted."
Deputy Tyler Coffey, who was in the area when the 911 call was made, ultimately passed the woman's vehicle and got in front of it before slowly decelerating and allowing her front bumper to hit the back bumper of his squad car. The officer then proceeded to slow down until both vehicles came to a stop.
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The woman, her unborn child and the officer involved were unharmed. The vehicle was stopped about a quarter of a mile before Crab Orchard Lake.
“Had the Deputy not been on scene or delayed performing this maneuver the driver and vehicle would have likely gone into the water upon reaching the lake” Sheriff Jeff Diederich said in a statement.
Coffey said it was only a matter of minutes between the time he received the call and the time he stopped the woman's car.
"I'm glad she's okay. I'm glad I was in the area and very close to her that way we could have gotten that vehicle stopped in time," Coffey told NBC Chicago.
