Quick-thinking PC's patrol car dashcam captured the rescue of a mum who slipped into a diabetic coma on the M1
THIS is the dramatic moment a hero cop used his patrol car to halt a runaway vehicle by forcing it against barriers after the driver fell into a diabetic coma on the motorway.
PC Danny Pattison spotted the woman unconscious at the wheel and an 18-month old baby in the back of her out-of-control Peugeot 308 as it veered across the northbound M1.
He feared disaster after watching the hatchback mount a grass verge and swerve back to the road.
And with the nearest police back-up 27 miles away the officer took the life-saving decision to force the car to a stop.
Footage from his BMW patrol car shows him trying several times to shunt the vehicle against barriers - but it kept going and repeatedly veered back out into the carriageway.
Finally PC Pattison, 35, manoeuvred in front of the other car and forced it to a halt.
Other motorists had called 999 after seeing the car lurching across lanes on the M42 and PC Pattison caught up with it on the M1 near junction 23 in Leicestershire.
At first he feared the driver might be drunk, but when he pulled alongside he saw the situation was much more serious.
He said: ";Her head completely thrown back and she was staring at the roof of the car. She was obviously unconscious.
"I looked in the back of the car and saw a young child - about 18 months old."
"I thought, 'This is going to end up with her and the baby getting killed', so I ran through in my head all the options I had.
"I knew the only thing I could do is try and slow the car down - but I also knew that could end badly."
PC Pattison said he had had training for similar situations, but never any practical experience in forcing a moving vehicle to stop.
He said: "During the bit on the footage where she went towards the kerb I felt helpless and my heart sank, which is why I made the decision not to wait for the other police cars to come, and I had to force her into the barrier.
"I gently pulled up alongside and began to push the car against the barrier, and then as it slowed I pulled across the front of it.
"The woman was still unconscious, and her foot was on the accelerator, but I managed to get it to stop."
A colleague managed to rouse the woman from her coma with a chocolate bar he was saving for his lunch.
Paramedics checked her and the child but they were both uninjured.
Once the rescue was over it emerged the driver had gone into a diabetic coma and had no recollection of the incident.
She later said: "When I was told exactly what had happened I was very emotional.
"Had it not been for the actions of the officers bringing my car to a stop, I dread to think what the outcome may have been."
She had lived with diabetes for 23 years but never had an episode like this.
Leicestershire Chief Constable Simon Cole awarded PC Pattison a commendation.
He said: "Danny put himself at risk and prevented a potentially serious accident from happening.
"We're proud of him and he should be too."
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