It’s a terrifying prospect. You’re driving along and you recognize the need to slow down. However, when you reach for the brakes, nothing. Your brake pedal goes slack and your car keeps moving, picking up speed. That was a real-life nightmare for a pregnant Illinois woman. Lucky for her, though, a police officer intervened just in time to rescue her from plunging into a freezing lake.

Authorities are commending a police officer after a daring rescue that prevented a pregnant woman from crashing her runaway car

An expectant woman in Illinois is lucky to be alive after her car experienced catastrophic brake failure. She called 911 and talked to dispatchers in a frantic emergency call. “I need help. My brakes won’t stop. My car won’t stop,” the woman told 911 dispatch.

Heartbreakingly, she told emergency services that she was “20 weeks pregnant,” adding that she “cannot die today.” She continued to drive as authorities attempted to intervene. Her speed, just 30 mph on average, wasn’t alarmingly quick. However, it put her on a collision course with a freezing lake at the end of the country road, per CBS News.

Dispatchers calmly informed the woman behind the wheel that she was heading for a dead end and a lake. “Turn right at the next road,” the dispatcher told her. Deputy Tyler Coffey was the first police officer to catch up with the scared motorist. In a rescue attempt, he positioned his patrol car ahead of the malfunctioning vehicle. He then performed a “rolling roadblock.”

Now, a rolling roadblock, unlike a tire deflation device (TDD) is a maneuver to slow vehicles without the use of tools. The maneuver involves a police vehicle overtaking a vehicle and slowing down, forcing the vehicle behind to slow as well. Given the woman’s brake failure, it resulted in a collision.

“Her brake lights were illuminating, and she was not slowing down,” Deputy Coffey said of the runaway vehicle. However, using his vehicle as a set of brakes for the woman, Coffey succeeded in his rescue attempt. “Once I got in front of her vehicle, slowed down… her bumpers met mine, and slowly we came to a stop.” Fortunately, no one sustained any injuries in the intentional crash. Even her dog escaped the potentially deadly situation unharmed.