Driver who had seizure on Northwestern Motorway wants to thank car-chasing ‘hero’

• Shivan Ramkissoon had a seizure while driving on Auckland’s Northwestern Motorway at rush hour, causing his car to veer across lanes.
• Jeff Benjamin, a stranger, jumped through the window to pull the handbrake and stop the car.
• Ramkissoon wants to meet Benjamin to thank him for saving his life.

The man who had a seizure while driving on an Auckland motorway says he wants to meet the man who put his life on the line, bravely chasing the runaway car in front of rush hour traffic and jumping through the driver’s window to stop the vehicle.

Motorist Shivan Ramkissoon said he was “lucky to be alive” after suffering a medical incident behind the wheel, causing his small hatchback to veer out of control across all four lanes of Auckland’s Northwestern Motorway on Tuesday morning.

In a stunning coincidence, the episode happened in front of his workmates, who were following in a separate vehicle.

A video that captured the chase showed two men in hi-vis gear running down the motorway after the car and a man’s legs dangling out the driver’s window. Social media users praised the men as “heroes”.

Ramkissoon, an arborist, told the Herald he was sent home from his job early into his working day after he started feeling unwell.

He said the last thing he recalls of the trip home was passing his coworkers in their truck on the motorway.

“The next thing I remember was being in the back of the ambulance.”

Motorists run along Auckland's Northwestern Motorway chasing an out-of-control car after its driver suffered a medical event.

The car continues to the leftmost barrier, where it comes to a stop.

Ramkisson said he was later told he had a seizure. He said it was his first seizure and he does not have any underlying medical conditions.

He had since been discharged from hospital and was now undergoing a series of tests to determine the cause.

“They said I was convulsing, my eyes were rolling back into my head. I do not remember anything.”

When he was shown the videos the next morning, Ramkissoon said he was shocked at the selflessness and bravery of those who ran after his car and others who stopped traffic.

He said the men in hi-vis sprinting down the motorway after his car were his workmates.

However, Jeff Benjamin, the man who jumped in through the driver’s side window and pulled the handbrake, was a stranger.

Ramkissoon said he wants to meet his hero to shake his hand and thank him for saving his life.

“I feel really lucky.”

Benjamin told the Herald his wife initially saw what was happening.

“I jumped through his driver’s window to grab the handbrake and slow him down and move him to the side,” he said hours after the incident.

“By then, a couple of guys from Asplundh had come running. We decided to leave him in the car because it was safer but then one of the guys noticed he wasn’t breathing.

“So we got him out of the car, lay him down behind and before we decided to do CPR, he had a little vomit, started breathing again but had a little seizure.”

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