10yo boy hailed a hero for steering out-of-control truck for 10 miles

A 10-year-old boy has been hailed a hero after he grabbed the wheel of a truck when the driver became unwell and steered it through 10 miles of traffic on a busy road in America. Christopher Wheeler was with his elderly neighbour Alfred Smith on a trip to the scrap yard on Interstate 65 in Montgomery, Alabama when the 70-year-old suffered a diabetic episode and began to lose consciousness. As the truck began to swerve out of control, running other vehicles off the road and running red lights, Christopher grabbed the wheel and wrestled control.

I told him to stop, and he kept going. I put my foot on the brake, and I got the steering wheel and pulled it over and put it in park.

Christopher Wheeler

The youngster eventually managed to pull the truck over and put it in park. Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) said the boy’s actions “may have saved the driver’s life, his own life and the lives of others on the road at the time”. Special Agent Eric Salvador, from the Attorney General’s Office said: “Without the heroism of that child, I think they would have crashed off the road or into another vehicle. I think he saved a lot of lives out there.”

I didn’t want us to die. The police were behind us the whole time with their lights on.

Christopher Wheeler

Alabama boy