It's not every day you save a life, but that's just what happened when an Illinois man risked life and limb to save a driver who was having a seizure behind the wheel.
According to SaukValley.com, Randy Tompkins and his wife, Heather, were out for a drive in their home town of Dixon, Ill., around 4 p.m. June 2 when they spotted something alarming. A dark blue sedan, moving at a crawl, had wandered into their lane and was heading right for their truck. Thinking fast, he backed the truck out of the path of the oncoming car just in time to avoid a collision. That's when he noticed that something was wrong with the car's driver.
"I could see him and his arms were up to his head, close to his chest, and he was convulsing," Tompkins told the Rockford Register Star. "I could tell right away he was having a seizure." Tompkins knows a seizure when he sees it, since his wife, an EMT, has a history of them.
With no regard for his own safety, Tompkins immediately bailed out of his truck and ran toward the still moving car. Once he reached the creeping vehicle, he noticed that the driver was incapacitated, so he crawled in through the passenger side window. Seeing that the driver was in the middle of a seizure, he put two fingers in the driver's mouth to prevent him from swallowing his tongue. With his free hand, Tompkins threw the car into park.
"I was praying that he wasn't going to hit the gas, you know, cause obviously I had to jump through his window," Tompkins told ABC7. "I just did it so fast that I didn't even think about it, I just did it."
Meanwhile, a Dixon police officer had seen the blue car roll through a red light just seconds before, and as the officer followed behind, the police cruiser's dashcam captured Tompkins' actions. Paramedics rushed the driver to a nearby hospital.
Despite his quick thinking, "I don't look at myself as a hero," Tompkins said. "I just look at myself as a guy who happens to be in the right place at the right time and staying quick on my feet. I just took action."
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According to SaukValley.com, Randy Tompkins and his wife, Heather, were out for a drive in their home town of Dixon, Ill., around 4 p.m. June 2 when they spotted something alarming. A dark blue sedan, moving at a crawl, had wandered into their lane and was heading right for their truck. Thinking fast, he backed the truck out of the path of the oncoming car just in time to avoid a collision. That's when he noticed that something was wrong with the car's driver.
"I could see him and his arms were up to his head, close to his chest, and he was convulsing," Tompkins told the Rockford Register Star. "I could tell right away he was having a seizure." Tompkins knows a seizure when he sees it, since his wife, an EMT, has a history of them.
With no regard for his own safety, Tompkins immediately bailed out of his truck and ran toward the still moving car. Once he reached the creeping vehicle, he noticed that the driver was incapacitated, so he crawled in through the passenger side window. Seeing that the driver was in the middle of a seizure, he put two fingers in the driver's mouth to prevent him from swallowing his tongue. With his free hand, Tompkins threw the car into park.
"I was praying that he wasn't going to hit the gas, you know, cause obviously I had to jump through his window," Tompkins told ABC7. "I just did it so fast that I didn't even think about it, I just did it."
Meanwhile, a Dixon police officer had seen the blue car roll through a red light just seconds before, and as the officer followed behind, the police cruiser's dashcam captured Tompkins' actions. Paramedics rushed the driver to a nearby hospital.
Despite his quick thinking, "I don't look at myself as a hero," Tompkins said. "I just look at myself as a guy who happens to be in the right place at the right time and staying quick on my feet. I just took action."
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