Rene Villarreal-Albe and his wife, Andrea, were driving on Interstate 410 in San Antonio last Thursday when they spotted an SUV swerving through traffic and striking a concrete barrier. WABI-
TV reports that Rene said "We saw him keep swerving. That’s when we realized something was wrong and went to go check on him… He was unconscious, and that’s when we realized, ‘OK, he’s not gonna stop, and he could hurt more people.’ So, we took action"!
He pulled his pickup in front of the SUV, and slowed until the vehicles’ bumpers were touching, and then carefully brought both vehicles to a safe stop.
Rene said even though he has no formal training, he has seen the tactic used on On Patrol Live and was pretty confident he could pull it off.
is similar to a PIT maneuver typically performed by trained law enforcement. Villarreal-Albe says he believed he’d be able to help safely stop the vehicle.
After the vehicles stopped, Rene pulled the driver from the SUV and fortunately a nurse pulled over as well to see if she could help. Turns out the driver was in cardiac arrest and she began CPR. A fire department spokesperson says that the driver was breathing and had a pulse when transported to the hospital. Video of the incident recorded by Walker and shared online drew thousands of comments praising Villarreal-Albe, with many calling him a “highway hero.”