‘I was able to slide right through.’ Deputy recalls climbing into moving truck to save driver

WXYZ, CNN

By Max White and Tiarra Braddock

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    MOUNT CLEMENS, Michigan (WXYZ) — A life-saving scene played out on a busy stretch of Gratiot Avenue last week with a heroic act by a Macomb County sheriff’s deputy.    

Deputies Nicole Miron and Anthony Gross were notified on Sept. 12 around 2:15 p.m. that a silver GMC Sierra pickup truck was driving erratically in Mount Clemens on southbound Gratiot Avenue near Church Street.

“I pretty much hung out the window as much as I possibly could and the vehicle was pretty close so didn’t make it too tough,” Miron said.

They found the driver on Gratiot Avenue near Remick Drive and turned on their lights and siren, but the 63-year-old driver failed to stop and continued on at about 5 mph.

“So once I get in, I realized the park’s right at the steering wheel. I put it into park immediately… checked on him, he was in a daze, he wasn’t sure what was going on,” Miron added.

Gross was driving and Miron rolled down her window and tried to get the driver to stop, but he appeared to be in a daze. The driver managed to briefly hit his brakes and that’s when Miron climbed from her passenger seat into the moving truck. The deputy was able to stop the truck.

“Once she started hanging out the window, I was just trying to keep us aligned with him,” Gross said.

“Luckily, I am very small. When I went through the window, it was a big-size front kind of window, I was able to slide right through. I don’t think any of my gun or gear touched him, so I slid through, my small stature helped and the fact that we were a two-man car helped,” Miron told us on Wednesday.

The Clinton Township Fire Department was called in to treat the driver and he was taken to the hospital. His family was alerted.

It appears the driver had experienced a medical episode.

“I commend Deputy Miron for putting herself in harm’s way to help a citizen in need and protect other drivers on the roadway,” Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham said in a statement. “Due to her quick thinking and selfless actions, she safely ended what could have been a tragic situation.”

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