Drake Linn, a Georgian boy, saved his own life and that of his diabetic grandfather by steering his grandfather’s truck to safety earlier in July, Atlanta News First reported Wednesday.
Linn’s grandfather fell unconscious at the wheel, forcing the young boy to take over the truck and pull it to safety on the side of the road, the outlet reported. (RELATED: Fire Department Rescues Teenager Buried In Own Sandpile After It Collapses: REPORT)
Linn’s grandfather’s vehicle was going approximately 70 miles per hour and transporting a boat when the incident happened, Atlanta News First reported. The boy’s family reportedly credit the boy’s ability to take over at the wheel to his farm experience.
Linn called 9-1-1 after he managed to stop the truck by the roadside, the outlet noted. “Hey, my grandpa is a diabetic! I pulled him over! I pulled him over on the side of the road, can you hear me!?…Exit 320, we are right at exit 320!” Linn told the 9-1-1 respondent, the outlet reported.
“All the stuff is going through my mind. It is like, ‘What is going to happen? Are we going to get in a wreck or what?’ But it worked out perfectly,” Linn told the outlet.
“It was just amazing, probably one of the most touching calls that I have ever took since I have been at 911,” Cpl. Matthew Holder of the Golden County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO), the one who answered the 911 call, reportedly said.
“What an extraordinary young man who took a dangerous situation and made it safe for him and his grandpa,” GCSO Sheriff Mitch Ralston told the outlet.
The Gordon County Sheriff’s Office awarded Drake with a Citizen Service Award Wednesday alongside “an Atlanta Braves cap and shirt, and 4 tickets to a Braves game,” according to a press statement on Facebook. The GCSO wrote that the boy was 11 years old.
Sheriff Ralston recognized Drake “as ‘displaying courage, resourcefulness, and good citizenship'” in the citation.
