14 DAY TRIAL // An eight-year-old Kansas girl is being praised for her quick thinking and calmness after she took control of the family’s SUV when her mother fell unconscious at the wheel on Wednesday morning.
Abby Porter and her mother Shelly were on Route 66, on their way to school, in Riverton, when the incident happened. During the ride, Abby’s mom had a medical emergency and passed out unconscious, but the brave second-grader kept her calm and managed to lean over and steer the wheel to keep the car on the road.
It was about 8:30 in the morning, a moment of the day when the four-lane highway is usually busy with traffic, and the SUV was moving at about 20 mph (32 km/h). The girl says her father sometimes lets her steer their tractor and lawn mower, so she did what she knew best – she grabbed hold of the steering wheel as the car kept going.
Abby had no idea how to bring the car to a halt, so she just kept maneuvering the steering wheel, and even pulled off a successful U-turn on the highway, as her only thought was to get home to her father.
Galena police officer Jimmy Hamilton spotted the SUV weaving between the lanes and thought he was dealing with a drunk driver. He pulled up alongside the vehicle and saw young Abby at the wheel, leaned over her unconscious mother.
“The driver of the vehicle was leaning back to the right side unconscious. There was a child in the console area steering the vehicle,” Hamilton tells ABC News. “She had a scared look on her face, you could tell by the tone of her voice she was scared.”
The officer explains that there was an intersection ahead, and the situation was getting more dangerous than it already was, so he tried to get in front of Abby's car to slow her down. However, the little girl kept switching lanes to avoid bumping into his car, because she was afraid.
Hamilton eventually convinced her after telling her that it was the only way they could stop the car. So, he positioned his vehicle in front of the SUV, and Abby steered into the patrol car's rear bumper. The officer then applied slow pressure on his brakes until both vehicles stopped.
Shelly Porter was rushed to the hospital, where she was treated and released.
The police department in Galena will present Abby with a plaque for “outstanding bravery in a life-threatening situation.”