Posted on 07/19/2007 6:48:35 PM PDT by Sybeck1
Johnny Peel's Wednesday morning commute turned into a rescue mission that could've been on reality television.
Peel, 22, was headed from home in Sardis, Miss., to his job as a mechanic in Bartlett about 8 a.m. when he saw a man on a mechanic's wheeled creeper underneath a moving SUV along Interstate 55 near the Goodman Road exit in Southaven. Inside the moving SUV were two children.
The rest is a rescue story not to be believed.
Peel rescued Robert Finney, 48, of Hernando, and his two sons, ages 7 and 9, just moments before their Mitsubishi Montero would have drifted onto the traffic-clogged highway from a construction area between the traffic lanes and median.
"I was right next to him with my windows rolled up and the music blaring, and I could still hear him screaming for help," said Peel, who then made some split second decisions as he moved to rescue Finney using his 1989 Honda Accord.
"My instincts just took over," Peel remembered later Wednesday. "I was right next to the SUV, so I pulled between the construction zone where the car was and, you know, tried to get in front of the SUV to slow it down. I managed to get in front of it. And the next thing I know, I was jumping out of my car into his car and this little kid was in the front seat yelling, 'Brake! Brake! Brake!' "
Southaven Police Chief Tom Long was the first police vehicle to arrive at the scene on northbound I-55 just after 8 a.m.
"The variables that could have led to death or multiple deaths were all over the place," Long said.
He said Finney was driving north on the interstate when his vehicle died.
"He sort of coasted through the traffic cones into the construction area (between the traffic lanes and the median)," Long said.
"Finney said he thought he knew what had happened -- that something about his starter had failed or jammed. He thought that if he could manipulate the starter, that he could restart his vehicle."
Using a mechanic's wheeled creeper to get under the vehicle, lying on his back between the front tires, Finney banged around under the vehicle, which he had left in drive, and it suddenly started moving.
"The vehicle began rolling northward," Long said. "Mr. Finney grabbed the undercarriage of the vehicle and held on as the creeper began rolling forward with the vehicle."
Peel said the SUV was going about 15 to 20 mph as he drove beside it, hoping it didn't move back into heavy morning traffic.
He said Finney was dragged about 100 yards before the SUV crashed into his Honda and he was able to get into the vehicle to make sure it stopped.
"Everybody was shaken up and reality didn't come back to me until I was sitting in that man's vehicle pumping those brakes," Peel said.
Long commended Peel for his quick thinking.
"Thankfully, Peel had the presence of mind to run around the Montero, climb in and apply the brake. He stopped the vehicle just short of the time when it would have angled back into interstate rush-hour traffic," Long said.
Finney received scratches to his hands, arms and chest. He was examined on the scene by emergency workers, but was not taken to the hospital.
One of Finney's sons said Wednesday afternoon by phone that Finney was sleeping and doing fine.
His sons were not injured, and neither was Peel.
"My car is totaled, but that doesn't matter much when you consider what this poor man and his children went through," Peel said. "I did what any good American would've done. I just didn't want anybody to die."
-- Yolanda Jones: (662) 996-1474
-- William C. Bayne: (662) 996-1408
Copyright 2007, commercialappeal.com - Memphis, TN. All Rights Reserved.
Got that right - he should get a NEW car
When did drivers begin carrying mechanic's wheeled creepers when driving, just in case?
Or did it appear magically?
Time for us to freep mail Honda = a great chance for them to pick up some good PR -
Honda gives hero a new car!"
...
Wow! Think what might have happened (((shudder)))!
Great post!
To carry a creeper while driving indicates he was driving an unreliable vehicle and endangered others.
I see people posting actions like your but I really wonder if they do it. Keep me informed. BTW *Amica.com* is an excellent company.
As to carrying the creeper, I suppose someone might do that, just keep it in there, but that raises a question, too.
I hope he gets a brand new car of his choice out of it. If he's like me, he liked his old Honda like I like mine, can't be replaced with a comparable one near the condition of mine :-). Very low miles, don't drive much. Those things are good for 200,000, but I suppose you reach a point where they won't make it because of their age.
Wow!
bet your ass they do it.......I’m car dealership related for life and you bet your butt it’s done
“To carry a creeper while driving indicates he was driving an unreliable vehicle and endangered others”
Or he could have just bought it, had borrowed it and was returning it, etc etc etc.
Today, Bill Heard Chevrolet in Collierville presented peel with a 2002 Chevy Impala. AAA Collision in Bartlett is fixing his Honda for free. Peel says he plans to keep it and give it to his girlfriend.
You are a real bring down, a bummer, a bad bust, a no knock at the wrong house, a wrench in the gears, and with your nose so high in the air I hope it rains real heavy.
bad business opportunity for Heard. Bill Heard collectively is the largest collection of multi state
Chevrolet Dealerships in the world.
Should have given him a brand new Chevy ( same tax deduct)
In six months and a year later do a commercial on his opinion of the Chevy vs the 89 Honda
Friends all, same dime spent........better results
better P.R.
oh and as a dealer fix the Honda for free.Advertise that your body shop fixes them all, not just Chevrolets, just ask Mr Peel............another opportunity missed........................on the same dime they spent on the 02 Impala
WoW! What a wild ride that was! Johnny Peel is a true hero. Had he not done what he did, the father would probably have been killed when the SUV finally crashed. The kids might have been killed or seriously injured too. A happy ending to a very frightening ordeal.
Just totally awesome! Thanks for the update. I love happy endings.
Yea, I don’t understand. I thought everybody had one in the trunk.
I know I do...
Thanks for the uodate—good news!
I had the same thoughts. Funny they didn’t think of that...obviously, they must have, so I wonder why the heck they didn’t do it.
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