Boy Pulls Over Car When Mom Passes Out

Nov. 12, 2006 — -- A nine-year-old Texas boy is being hailed as a hero after he pulled his mother's car over when she passed out at the wheel.

Jimmy Stevens was riding with his family down a busy highway when something went wrong. Jimmy's mother, Latisha, passed out at the wheel with Jimmy and his two younger siblings in the car.

It wasn't until his mother woke up in the hospital that she heard the call that may have saved her life.

With his mother unconscious, and his little brother and sister crying in the backseat, Stevens called 911. Stevens told the operator his name was James P. Stevens.

"Is your mom okay?" the 911 operator asked. "Is she breathing?"

"She can't breathe at all," Stevens said.

"She can't breathe at all? Now I want you to stay on the line with me okay. Just tell her help is coming," the operator told Stevens.

"Okay. Help is coming," he responded.

For the next several minutes, the nine-year-old stayed on the line, calmly guiding rescuers and comforting his siblings.

When rescuers arrived they found the car parked safely on the roadside.

Though he can barely reach the brakes, Stevens was able to climb into his mother's lap, pull over the car and even put it in park.

Doctors believe his mother suffered a severe panic attack, but Stevens never panicked at all.

I am "extremely proud. I couldn't be … prouder," the boy's mother told "Good Morning America Weekend Edition" on Sunday.

"I wasn't feeling very well at all," she said. "I couldn't catch a breath. … And that's the last thing I remember. And the next thing I remember I was in a hospital bed."

The nine year old said he knew what to do by watching his mother.

"I hopped in her lap, and reached my feet as far as I could, and pushed the brake, and put it in park," he said.

"He's always been that way," his mother said. "When his dad's gone, he says he's the man of the house. 'I've got to take care of things.' "