Eric Roman, 37, was driving in his Lexus on Thursday close to Coney Island Hospital when he suffered a Heroin Overdose and passed out at the wheel. His seven-year-old daughter climbed in his lap to take the wheel of the car. Two FDNY Emergency Medical Technicians saw the girl and managed to safely stop the vehicle before it headed into the busy Belt Parkway.
EMTs spot a young girl behind the wheel of a Lexus
One of the EMT’s was Arlene Garcia, who is the mother of three small children aged 9, 10 and 11. She said she and the other EMT, Charles Zimring, suddenly spotted the young girl behind the wheel of a car traveling on Ocean Avenue.
She said they were shocked to see a little girl behind the wheel and, as a mother herself, she freaked out and started to yell at the girl to pull over and stop the vehicle.
Girl's feet couldn't reach the pedals
However, Garcia told the New York Daily News that the girl was so small that her feet could not reach the pedals. The EMTs turned their ambulance with the Lexus, waving their arms and calling to the girl to pull over, but she kept on going. The EMTs realized the car was going at a pretty slow rate, so they thought of a plan to stop her. They pulled the ambulance up right in front of the car and the Lexus, with the girl behind the wheel, bumped into their back bumper, finally coming to a halt.
Thanks to @workcompking for sharing this story of the child being the adult. My guess it's not the 1st time for the…https://t.co/WfaeXEWzDO
— Mark Pew (@RxProfessor) July 22, 2017
Little girl was worried about getting grounded for driving
Garcia and her partner Zimring then walked up to the vehicle and found the girl’s father passed out from a heroin overdose.
Garcia said the girl told them her father had fallen asleep, so she decided to finish the drive home. She was reportedly in the back seat when her father passed out so she unbuckled her seat belt, climbed over, and took the wheel.
According to Garcia, the little girl wasn’t at all scared and all she worried about was getting grounded for driving the car without permission.
Fortunately the girl was not injured in the incident.
Naloxone brings the father around
According to the police, the EMTS used the opioid antidote drug Naloxone to bring Roman around from his overdose and he was then taken to a Brooklyn hospital. As reported by the New York Post, he will now be facing a charge of reckless endangerment, as well as driving while drug-impaired and behaving in a manner injurious to a child.
The president of EMS Local 2507, Oren Barzilay, lauded the two EMTs for their efforts in the incident, saying they both placed themselves at risk in order to prevent others from being injured.
