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Girl, 8, Takes Wheel When Grandma Faints

CBS11 in Dallas / Forth Worth has the story about an 8-year-old girl who helped steer a car when her grandmother passed out.

Emma Hicks, 8, of Cleburne, a town south of Forth Worth, is being given a national award for doing a good deed. While she crashed her grandmothers SUV through a fence and into a shed, it was a crash that may have saved lives.

There's still damage visible at the site where Emma Hicks ride home from school ended. "On the way home my grandma, she blacked out," the little girl explained.

Emma's grandmother, Jeannie Mendoza, has to depend on her granddaughter's memory. "I turned on the corner and I told her [Emma] I felt funny and I was going to pull over," Jeannie recalled. "I pulled over a little bit and I don't remember anything after that."

Jeannie had a seizure while driving with her granddaughter. Emma said, "And her foot was on the gas pedal and then we were going." The two were racing down the road and heading toward danger.

Something had to be done, so little Emma took action. "I had to undo my seatbelt and I had to get in the front seat and I had to steer the truck. And then we came to a turn and I couldn't make it."

Until the incident, Emma's only driving experience was on her grandfather's lawnmower and tractor. It was a rocky ride for the courageous little girl. "So we went through a metal fence, a shed, and we hit some wood. And then the car stopped, but the doors were jammed on her side and my side. And so, I opened the window and I went to go get help."

CBS 11 has the story and video:

Local Video from CBS 11 / TXA 21 in Dallas/Fort Worth

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