A heroic 10-year-old boy grabbed the wheel when his grandfather passed out while driving 70 miles per hour on a Georgia highway and steered them to safety in an “extraordinary” act of bravery.
Little Drake Linn was in the passenger seat of his grandfather’s pickup truck as the pair towed a boat they’d just picked up from a repair shop down Interstate 95 in Dalton on July 15, according to the Gordon County Sheriff’s Office.
His “papa,” 68-year-old Hugh Cox, was on the phone with a co-worker when he suddenly stopped talking and fell unconscious, The Washington Post reported.
“I didn’t know what was going on, and I was scared,” Drake told the newspaper.
Cox’s co-worker, who remained on the line, told Drake to call his mother, Jessica Linn, who then instructed her son to jump into his grandfather’s lap and drive the car over the shoulder.
Then the call cut out.
“I felt like that was probably the last time I was going to hear his voice,” Linn told WaPo about her son. “It was just the most desperate and out-of-control feeling.”
Cox is a diabetic who relies on a glucose-monitoring device to control his blood sugar, however it had stopped working the day before the incident.
When the grandfather called his pharmacy to get it replaced, he was told that there was an issue with his insurance that would have to be addressed first, the newspaper reported.
Unable to track that his blood sugar levels were dangerously low, he fell into a diabetic coma.
Drake does have experience driving ATVs and golf carts around his farm in Calhoun, Ga., his mother said — which may have given him the confidence to jump into action on the highway.
“I was in the middle of the interstate, and I had no idea where I was, so I drove about a mile until I knew where I was,” Drake told WaPo.
He said his only thought was getting his grandfather into an ambulance to save his life.
He was able to gently pull over on the shoulder — while not damaging the boat in tow — and called 911 and explained that Cox is diabetic.
“I’m really scared,” Drake, sobbing, told the dispatcher. “I don’t want him to die.”
First responders and Linn quickly arrived at the scene. EMTs hooked him up to an IV drip and he began to feel better after about 20 minutes, he said.
Cox was soon well enough to be driven home by his daughter.
He called the episode one of the worst he’s ever had — and acknowledged that without his grandson with him, it could have ended in tragedy.
“I usually go by myself when I pick up a boat … I asked him if he wanted to go, and we took off,” Cox said. “It was good I had him with me.”
“I’m real proud of him,” Cox added. “He’s a good kid.”
Sheriff Mitch Ralston of the Gordon County Sheriff’s Office said, “That little boy’s actions were just extraordinary.”
Drake was honored by the sheriff’s office in a ceremony on July 17 — which happened to be the boy’s 11th birthday, according to WaPo. He received a Citizen Service Award, as well as an Atlanta Braves cap and shirt, and four tickets to a Braves game.
“We wanted to do something for him because he not only saved his life and his grandfather’s life, but also some motorists’ lives,” Ralston said. “This kid is a hero, no doubt.”
Drake’s parents, however, weren’t surprised at their son’s bravery.
“My own child saved my own parent,” Linn said. “It made my heart swell.”
