Good Samaritan stops erratic driver from crashing into traffic
BENBROOK, Texas - A woman driving down a busy Benbrook street stopped and ran to the aid of a man she noticed was driving erratically and stopped him from driving into traffic.
It all happened right in the middle of the day at this busy intersection at Benbrook Boulevard and Mercedes. The Good Samaritan ran across three lanes of traffic to help stop a car with an erratic driver before he hit someone else.
Amanda Martinez has only been working in the medical field for five months. She's studying to become a nurse while working at Texas Health southwest.
“I've always wanted to be in that position to where I could help more,” she explained.
Martinez found herself in that position Monday morning on Benbrook Boulevard. She noticed a car driving erratically and way under the speed limit. Her in-car dash cam caught part of it.
“He was kind of swerving out to the right a little bit, then he'd come back,” she recalled. “Something wasn’t right.”
Martinez went around him but kept watching carefully before deciding to reverse and pull over on a busy road. The driver was actually having a medical issue.
“It was uncontrollable shaking. His head was tilted some, and his hands were all very, he was shaking,” she said. “I could see him vomiting, too.”
Martinez got out of her car and ran across three lanes of traffic, opening the car door. With mere seconds to go before the car drove into a busy intersection, she got one foot inside the car and stopped it.
“I pushed him over, and I hit the brake, and I put the car in park,” she said.
Bystanders called 911. Benbrook police say he was transported to the hospital.
And if there was ever a doubt in Martinez's mind about her career path, she says all that disappeared.
“At that moment, I was like ‘This is my calling. Nursing is my calling,’’ she said. “I've always thought I would be the person that would freeze, and I didn't.”
Police say the man was talking and conscious when he went to the hospital.
Martinez believes he was having a seizure because she's seen that happen before, but she can't say for sure. She says his entire body was convulsing, he was vomiting and his limbs and neck were stiff. He was looking at her, but he couldn't respond. She's just hoping everything turned out ok with him.