Texas Officer Helps Stop Driver in Trouble

Aug. 3, 2011
A man said a police officer saved his life by putting his patrol car in front of a speeding SUV.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas --

A man said a police officer saved his life by putting his patrol car in front of a speeding SUV.

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Gatlin Jeter said he couldn't stop his SUV last Saturday as he sped toward downtown Huntsville at 60 mph. He called 911 and emergency dispatchers called police for help.

Sam Houston State University patrol officer Rocky Carrell heard the call and used his police SUV to stop Gatlin's Ford Excursion.

In dashcam video, Carrell's vehicle can be seen taking the impact just in time. They stopped just feet in front of a pickup truck stopped at 11th and MLK, just a few intersections from crowded streets downtown.

"I thought I was going to die. I really did," Jeter said. "I didn't know what I was going to tell the dispatcher to tell my family I love them. My main focus was to not get anyone else killed."

Carrell told his supervisors that he saw a similar scenario with a runaway car before. He knew he had to do something.

Jeter believes the officer saved his life.

In response to Jeter's claim that his SUV would not stop, Ford released a statement saying, "We can cannot comment on this matter as we have not had a chance to review details. We are not aware of a safety issue with this cruise control system."

Copyright 2011 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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