Officer saves senior from back-rolling car

LEESBURG, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - A senior citizen was nearly killed by a car she forgot to put in park.

A Leesburg police officer who was on a break jumped in and saved the day. It happened at a Shell station on U.S. Highway 441. The close call was caught on camera.  The woman’s head was incredibly close to being crushed by the vehicle, the officer said. 

The officer was getting a snack inside the convenience store. When he came out, he saw something awful unfolding, and he put himself between the car and the victim. The video shows the near-death experience and that officer being cool under pressure, running into action, rescuing the woman.

Officer Alex Nell, who served in the Marines, comes out of the shop and realizes what’s happening, pulls the 75-year-old away from the rolling car. The woman did have some injuries, but she is recovering.

Police said the reason she might have been distracted, is that while this ordeal was going on, her husband was being rushed to the hospital, having just suffered a heart attack.