A Fayette County sheriff’s deputy is being lauded for his quick actions to halt a runaway car that drifted off course when its driver became incapacitated Wednesday morning.
Dep. Thomas Mindar was directing early-morning Whitewater Middle School traffic on Ga. Highway 85 south at Christopher Road when he directed the southbound traffic to stop.
That is when Mindar noticed a car rolling past him at a slow rate of speed, its male driver slumped over in an incapacitated state, according to Maj. Bryan Woodie of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office.
Mindar took swift action, leaning into the driver’s rolled-down window to unlock the door. And then he managed to get inside the car to apply the brakes, avoiding a potential head-on collision, and put the car back in park, Woodie said.
An ambulance was called for the driver, who managed to spring back to consciousness. The driver suffered some type of medical malady and indicated that this is not the first time it has happened, Woodie said.
In the process of stopping the car, the driver’s door struck Mindar’s knee, causing a minor bruise, but he is expected to be back on duty early next week, Woodie said.
Although the car was traveling slowly, Mindar had to react quickly to avert a potential disaster, Woodie said.
“Another ten seconds further down the road, he probably would have been hit by a northbound vehicle,” Woodie said, noting the car was drifting toward the center of the road as Mindar began to intervene.
The good news is that there were no schoolchildren on foot in the area at the time, and although there was a school bus nearby no students were ever in any immediate danger, Woodie said.
