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9-year-old saves dad by taking wheel of speeding big rig

What do you do if your dad loses consciousness in a speeding big rig and you're only nine-years-old?

If you're Matthew Lovo Jr., you grab the wheel.

Quickly.

And radio for help.

The boy had been riding with his father in a semi truck pulling two trailers loaded with lumber northbound through St. Helens Tuesday afternoon when Matthew Lovo Sr. suffered a medical emergency, lost consciousness and fell from the driver's seat of the moving truck.

"He made a weird noise and fell down and I'm like, 'Dad, are you joking?' and he wouldn't say anything, so I smacked him and he wasn't," Lovo Jr. said.

Young Matty climbed into the driver's seat and began steering the truck, which had traveled into oncoming lanes of traffic and struck a power pole, said St. Helens Police Chief Steven Salle.

The boy steered the truck back into the correct lanes and used the C.B. radio to ask for help. Someone heard his plea and told him to turn off the ignition key, which he did.

Good Samaritan Chases Semi, Jumps In

As that was happening, the semi truck passed St. Helens resident Christopher A. Howard, who was driving southbound into town and noticed a child at the wheel.

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Posted in: News on August 10, 2007 @ 12:00 AM

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