Dispatcher Tells Woman How to Stop Runaway Car

A panicked driver whose accelerator pedal was stuck as she approached a La Cañada intersection, avoided a collision and slowed her car, thanks to a dispatcher at .

Richard Engersbach, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s law enforcement technician,  calmed the driver whose out-of-control vehicle approached Sport Chalet Drive from Foothill Boulevard just before 11 a.m. Monday, said Lt. Angela Shepherd.

Driving a Ford Escort with a child as her passenger, the 40-year-old Sunland resident, raced toward a red light at the intersection at 20-25 mph, Shepherd said. Panicking, she called 911, which forwarded the call to Engerbach, the day shift dispatcher.

The woman sobbed, "There are cars in front of me and i can't stop," according to a LASD press release.

Engersbach calmly told her to put the car in neutral and turn off the engine. Still shaken, Shepherd said, the driver followed his instructions. The car slowed down before the engine finally died. The driver finally came to a stop before she reached the intersection.

"We are proud to have Richard Engersbach as a dispatcher here at Crescenta Valley Station. Due to his quick thinking and calm demeanor, he helped the caller stop her vehicle, which prevented a serious traffic collision and possibly serious injuries or even death to the caller and her child,'' Shepherd wrote in a prepared statement.