By EMS1 Staff
VERO BEACH, Fla. — A man called 911 to report that he could not use his brakes while driving down a highway.
ABC News reported that Joseph Cooper remained calm and told dispatchers “my gas pedal is stuck” while driving as fast as 95 mph down a highway with his flashers on.
Authorities helped control traffic, and when Cooper was asked if he could shift to neutral, he replied, “I can’t, ma’am, I tried that already. I’m trying to hold onto the wheel and talk to you at the same time.”
“Get out of the way!” Cooper, who said he almost hit someone, can be heard yelling in the 911 recording.
Cooper avoided spiked stop sticks that the police used in an attempt to slow the car down, but a second attempt blew the right tires out and slowed the vehicle to around 60 mph, according to police.
The car was then slowed to around 40 mph with another round of stop sticks, but Cooper could not stop.
“The vehicle was traveling on all 4 rims with no tire,” police said.
Cooper’s vehicle came to a stop after traveling more than 40 miles. Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Alvaro Feola said it was a miracle no one was injured.
“He did call 911, he wore a seatbelt, he kept the dispatch aware of the mile markers,” Feola said. “Thank God in this situation nobody got hurt. Traffic was maybe a little light, it wasn’t rush hour.”