ALFRED, Maine (NEWS CENTER) - A State Police lieutenant took a major detour on his way home from work earlier this week, Lieutenant Louis Nyitray, came across a woman who was driving all over the road. And he ended up saving her life.

Lieutenant Nyitray was driving home in his cruiser on Route 111 in Alfred, when he saw a car drive right into a ditch and then keep going.

He ended up chasing this car for 3 miles to River Street in Sanford. Nyitray says the woman who was behind the wheel was weaving all over the place, running oncoming traffic off the road and blowing through red lights. He couldn't figure out how to stop her safely with his car because the road was narrow, and there were pedestrians, and other cars all over the place. He followed her with his lights and sirens running to warn anyone nearby.

He says the one good thing about this was that the woman never went more than about 45 miles per hour, and it occurred to him along the way that she didn't seem to be trying to get away.
Eventually, the woman's car slammed into not one, but two telephone poles, splintering them, and leaving live wires all over the road. She came to a stop as her car began to burn.

Nyitray and a passerby pulled her out of the smoky car to safety.
"I'm not afraid to admit it," Nyitray said. "After it's over, the adrenaline hits you, and your heart rate goes up because by the time I saw the poles go out. I said, 'Wow.'"

Nyitray said the woman was all over the road because she was having a medical emergency. She is being treated for her injuries and is expected to make a full recovery.

NEWS CENTER