RAS AL KHAIMAH // An off-duty police officer was hailed a hero yesterday after he saved the life of a man whose runaway 4x4 was jammed on cruise control at 120kph.
Capt Tariq Al Sharhan drove ahead of the vehicle to slow it down and instructed the driver to gradually apply the handbrake.
"He went directly in front of the car and started to hit it from the front to slow down the speed, then he kept in touch with the driver by mobile," said Maj Marwan Al Mansoori of Ras Al Khaimah Police.
The officer then forced the Land Cruiser on to a sand dune, where it finally came to a halt within a kilometre of the Emirates Road roundabout on the E311 motorway.
The Emirati officer had sped to the scene when he heard a police radio emergency call for assistance to deal with the runaway Land Cruiser.
The driver's cruise control had jammed as he drove from Umm Al Quwain to RAK.
Capt Al Sharhan "didn't have time to stop and take a police car to deal with this case, so he drove directly to the location," said Maj Al Mansoori, the public relations director and head of moral guidance at RAK Police.
The driver of the car was unharmed and the car was undamaged.
RAK Police said: "After all, Allah destined rescue and safety for the driver and his car together."
The force said all the officers involved in the incident on August 12 were "heroes" whose actions reflect the "idealism image of policemen who exert everything of money and souls for the country and its commanders and people, putting before their eyes the safety of people and property of the country."
UPDATE: Driver of Land Cruiser files complaint to Ministry of Economy