oakland (Maine) woman stops runaway car in Auburn (man having grand mal seizure behind wheel)

AUBURN -- The man behind the wheel of the speeding vehicle thrashed in the throes of a grand mal seizure, but it seemed that only Jill Crowell recognized that fact.

Early-morning traffic rolled en masse in both directions along the four lanes of Center Street as drivers scurried to their jobs, but the 2000 Chevrolet Blazer never slowed. Drivers pounded horns and wrestled with their steering wheels as the runaway vehicle tore into the roadway from a McDonald's parking lot.

Crowell, one car back from the scene, heard the horns and saw the brake lights. But what she saw inside the Blazer made her realize that this was more than a case of road rage.

The man, 38-year-old Auburn resident Kenneth Ouellette, was making abrupt movements with arms, striking himself in the head and face.

Crowell, a 31-year-old registered nurse from Oakland, knew this was a medical emergency. So she took the only action she felt made sense: She stepped on the gas and went after the Blazer.

"I think in those situations, you just kind of get a focus, and you prioritize," Crowell said later Wednesday. "Getting the car stopped was a priority, and then making sure he was OK."

What Crowell didn't know was that the careening vehicle also carried Ouellette's infant son.

Threading her way across four lanes of traffic, she chased the Blazer. The 7:30 a.m. traffic somehow parted to make way for the vehicle's blind charge as it headed for the Cumberland Farms convenience store on the other side of the street.

Crowell accelerated a short distance beyond the Blazer, grabbed her cellular phone and leapt from her vehicle.

Dressed in a suit for a breakfast meeting presentation -- she had quit her nursing job earlier in the year for a sales position with a pharmaceutical company -- she faced Ouellette's vehicle as it rolled straight toward her.

Two-inch heels clattering across the asphalt, she sprinted towards it, hoping the doors were unlocked.

When she reached the Blazer, she saw a tiny bundle in the back seat that gave her a jolt.

"His little baby had blond hair, just like my son," Crowell said. "I thought, 'I was supposed to be here this morning.' "

She wrenched open the door, leaned across the still-convulsing man and jammed the gear shift into park.

She grabbed the man's hands, which were still belaboring his own head, and called 911.

As a rescue unit from Auburn Fire Department and an ambulance from United approached, she took a peek at the baby. He was silent, apparently not concerned, or else unaware of the drama. Ouellette gradually became more stable and conscious, gesturing toward the back seat in motions that Crowell interpreted as concern for his son.

"I just remember very blue eyes, and they were just staring right at me for a couple of seconds, just dazed and confused about the whole situation," Crowell said.

Emergency medical technicians arrived minutes later and took over. The ambulance took Ouellette and his son to St. Mary's Regional Medical Center, according to Auburn Police Lt. Gary Boulet.

Ouellette's mother was advised of the situation and agreed to pick up her grandson, Boulet said.

A hospital supervisor was unable to report Ouellette's condition before 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, and also said she was unable to confirm whether Ouellette had been admitted to St. Mary's.

"I just hope that everything turns out OK, and he just doesn't have to run into that situation again," she said. "It must have been frightening."

A few months ago....something similiar happened to me.

I live near a tiny one stop light town....and had gone into town for a paper..and cup of joe.

Was motoring down a fairly "main" street there...when I saw a couple cars stopped in the road ahead...looked like they were stopped to let the first car turn left...although I could see the driver's back in the first car....and noticed that they were jerking/shaking.

I looked at the two guy's in the pick-up in front of me...and they weren't fazed by what I was seeing...so I sat there watching closely for a few seconds. Until the person fell over in the seat..I jumped out...yelled at the two guy's in the P/U to call 911..and ran to the car just as it started rolling towards the other lane...with cars coming from that direction. YIKES!!

Thank God...her car door wasn't locked...I opened it..and started hopping like a mad man on one leg...and stabbing at the brake pedal with the other..!! Got the car stopped and placed in park. Then attended to the lady...who it was apparent had had a SZ. Then I looked in the back seat...and their sat this WIDE EYED kid in a car seat..!!

I hung around until EMS got there...and by that time the girl was doing much better...but disoriented of course. Family came and got the kid.....And I drove and got my paper and joe.

More excitement that I'd had in a day or two....

Cool story.

Some years back over the course of a few days I ran in to a series of strange events. First, I saw a guy literally get his head blown off, shot in the back of the neck with a .38. There was nothing that could be done for him. I remember that there was so much blood it was like taking several quarts of oil and dumping them on the ground at the same time.

Then, an older gentleman a couple of houses down had a heart attack and we gave him CPR but it was too late, I remember having my hand on his arm and I could "feel" the instant he died. I can't explain the feeling.

A few days later I saw a plane crash in the water off Galveston Bay. We jumped in a boat, pulled the guy out of his single engine experimental plane and he looked dead but he lived. He was a mess, arms and legs all broken and he had a gash on his head that was so deep I wondered why we could not see his brain. A year or so later he was healed up and flying again.

A day or two after that I was driving south of Houston at night and as I pulled up to an intersection I saw two cars in the middle of the intersection. There was like a mist around them, smokey. I got out of my car because I saw a police officer running around one of the cars. He was cussing and grunting as he ran around the car and tried to get one of the cars doors opened but they were locked. I looked in the window of the car he had his attention on and saw a man who was kind of pinned under the dash.

It was like the car seat had been slammed forward on him. Then I noticed the fire starting to come out from under the hood of the car. Someone else approached the front of the car and it looked like they were going to open the hood and the cop yelled at them not to touch it because it would "flare up". The inside of the car was starting to get smokey and the cop pulls out his billy club and smashes one of the rear windows in and then he moves the club in a circle to clear as much of the glass as he could. He unlocks the door but it won't budge because the car is pretty crumpled. The cop reaches in an unlocks the front door but it won't open either. He looks at my young skinny ass and I look at his big beer belly and then I dive through the window. There is smoke coming out of the vents on the dash, that electrical kind of stinky smoke.

The man is really wedged between the seat and the dash but I get the seat pulled back and then I was able to kick front door open while the cop pulls on the door from the outside. The cop pulls the guy out of the car and I climb out. It's not like in the movies where the car explodes. Nope, it just completely burns and the tires pop. The man we pulled out of the car is on the ground, his mouth is foaming. As the ambulance pulls up I hop back in my car and drive off.....

Like I said, all of this happened over the course of a few days. It was very strange.

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