| GOLDENS BRIDGE, N.Y. - This story brings new meaning to the phrase “a car that drives itself.”
Robert Melillo, deputy fire chief of the Golden’s Bridge Fire Department, was traveling northbound on Interstate 684 in a marked SUV when a vehicle pulled alongside him in the right lane well before the Katonah exit. The driver, a woman, frantically honked her horn and shouted that there might be something wrong with the motorist ahead of her.
Melillo, a 38-year veteran of the department, soon spotted the vehicle in question.
“It was moving slowly and very unevenly,” he said, noting that its speed and motion were clearly inconsistent with the flow of highway traffic.
He immediately contacted 60 Control, Westchester County’s fire dispatch center, and requested that New York State Police respond.
Melillo caught up to the vehicle, a Honda HR-V, near the Saw Mill River Parkway–I-684 split, providing dispatchers with mile marker updates along the way.
As he pulled alongside the Honda, he activated his SUV’s sirens in an attempt to get the driver’s attention. When he tried to make eye contact, he saw that the driver’s face was pressed hard against the window, contorting her features.
“I thought she was sleeping or passed out behind the wheel, or worse,” Melillo recalled.
Despite the driver’s apparent condition, the Honda remained in the right lane, albeit erratically, as if bouncing along the roadway.
Concerned for the safety of other motorists, Melillo moved behind the vehicle to shield it from traffic.
As the Honda approached Exit 6A for Golden’s Bridge, it veered toward the ramp, drifting so far right that it struck the rumble strip. With Melillo following closely, sounding his horn and sirens, the vehicle abruptly came to a stop midway down the exit ramp.
Melillo immediately exited his SUV and ran to the Honda. He turned off the ignition and found the driver slumped in her seat, appearing to be asleep.
When he was able to rouse her, the woman opened her eyes and told him she was extremely tired and could not stay awake, according to Melillo.
“Between the horn from my vehicle and the rumble strip, it appears she snapped out of it just long enough to realize what was happening and bring the car to a stop,” he said. “It’s nothing short of a miracle that over nearly six miles — and who knows how long before that — the car was essentially driving itself while she was allegedly asleep.”
Golden’s Bridge Fire Chief Albert Melillo, Robert’s brother, praised the deputy chief’s actions.
“He was in the right place at the right time,” the chief said. “His calm but swift response averted a potential disaster on a busy highway and likely saved not only the driver’s life, but possibly the lives of others.”
He added that the incident underscores the value of fire officers driving marked department vehicles, even when not responding to emergencies.
“People sometimes ask why fire chiefs and officers drive department vehicles in non-emergency situations,” he said. “This is why. The other motorist only alerted our deputy chief because he was in a marked vehicle. Without that, this situation could have ended very differently.”
The cause of the driver’s condition remains unclear. Melillo turned the scene over to State Police upon their arrival. The driver declined medical treatment after being offered an ambulance. |
