(RIVERSIDE) A 2007 Ford is not one of those high-tech driverless cars, so when a west suburban bank employee saw one going by on the sidewalk Friday with no one inside, he jumped in and steered it to safety.
The vehicle’s owner, Marguerite G. Durkin, told Riverside police she “left the keys in the car with the engine on while she ran into Riverside Foods to ‘grab a few things’ from the store” about 3:35 p.m., a statement from police said.
The red car was in the far southwest parking spot of the grocery, next to the sidewalk, she told police. But she “did not put the car fully into park and after she left her vehicle to shop … [it] lurched into drive and started to drive on a pedestrian sidewalk,” police said.
The car went westbound in the central business district, and that’s when police started getting 911 calls about a driverless vehicle on the sidewalk near 48 E. Burlington, the statement said.
Before police could arrive, 32-year-old Nicholas Cassano, an employee of the PNC Banck branch, saw the unoccupied car go past on the sidewalk in front of the bank.
“He jumped into the car and was able to maneuver it back to the street, at which time he stopped the vehicle and parked it at the curb line,” police said.
Officers arrived to find the vehicle parked in the street with several people standing around, and Cassano holding the keys. Police then went into each business in the area until they found the owner, still shopping in Riverside Foods.
Durkin, 80 of the 2400 block of Park Avenue in North Riverside, was cited for illegally parking an unoccupied vehicle, and expired registration, police said.
“If it was not for what can only be described as heroic and quick-acting maneuver by PNC Bank employee Nicholas Cassano, we may have had a tragedy,” Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said in the statement.
“There were numerous people shopping in the central business district, and walking up and down the streets adjacent to where the vehicle was driving unattended. I believe Mr. Cassano’s quick actions definitely saved lives as the vehicle would not have stopped until it struck a pedestrian or a building.”
