Officer Saves Driver in Runaway Truck

As if in a scene from an action movie, a California Highway Patrol officer stopped an out-of-control truck by leaping aboard and applying the brakes, saving its unconscious driver, who had just suffered a heart attack.

Officer Jeff Gartner was patrolling southbound U.S. 101 in Menlo Park on Tuesday when he saw a tractor-trailer rig veer off the side of the road at about 30 mph. The truck then slowed as it crunched through an emergency call box and bounced off a sound wall, threatening to create a rush-hour disaster.

Gartner pulled alongside the rig and used his cruiser’s speaker to try to contact the driver, whom he could see slumped over in the cab. Getting out of his patrol car and breaking into a run, Gartner caught up with the moving truck and leaped aboard.

“That’s not in the lines of regular duty,” said CHP spokesman Officer Paul McCarthy. “I don’t think he really gave that much thought to his personal safety. I think he was more concerned about the safety of others.”

Gartner made his way into the cab and reached the brakes, bringing the truck to a halt. With the help of Dave Dovel of Redwood City, Gartner pulled the driver out of the cab and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

“Everyone around me thinks it’s spectacular. I just kind of feel awed and humbled by it,” Gartner said.

The truck driver, Steve Maclean of Millbrae, was listed in critical condition at Stanford Medical Center.