TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Police planned to honor a group of good Samaritans who quickly responded to help an ailing driver who was drifting dangerously into a busy Florida intersection last week.
“We don’t think it’s an understatement to say that these Good Samaritans are an inspiration of goodness in our country today!” the Boynton Beach Police Department said Wednesday in a statement.
The department said the heart-pounding moment, captured by a nearby traffic camera, happened on May 5 at an intersection in Boynton Beach when a woman behind the wheel of a black sedan suddenly suffered what police described as a “medical episode.”
The woman’s co-worker, who was sitting in another vehicle, noticed her slumped over the steering wheel as her car slowly rolled into the intersection.
“Her co-worker raced across the street waving her arms to get the attention of other motorists,” the department said.
Moments later, several nearby drivers jumped out of their vehicles and worked together to stop the car from rolling further.
In the video, one woman can be seen grabbing a dumbbell from her car and handing it to a man who used it to smash the rear passenger’s side window. Seconds later, another man climbed through the window to unlock the door.
According to police, “the good Samaritans pushed [the car] to a nearby 7-Eleven parking lot where a nurse who was on the phone with 911 provided medical attention until the fire department arrived.”
Officers said they released the video in hopes of identifying the “hero” strangers who came together to save the woman’s life.
On Wednesday, police released an update saying they had identified several of the good Samaritans and planned to reunite them with the woman they helped and honor them at the department headquarters.