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Stuck pedal had teen driving at 120 mph

16-yr-old called 911 for help in December incident

Updated: Thursday, 28 Feb 2013, 10:06 AM EST
Published : Thursday, 28 Feb 2013, 10:05 AM EST

ROCKWALL, Texas (CNN/WFAA) - It was a frightening situation for a Texas teenager as his car raced down the highway out of control for more than 100 miles -- flying down the highway at 120 mph.

The driver dodged cars and deputies, but the teen behind the wheel wasn't running from the law. He called them for help.

“If you can just try neutral and make sure you are near a place where you can pull over,” instructed the 911 operator.

“Yeah, I tried,” said 16-year-old El-ez Lushaj. “It won't go.” 

Lushaj called 911 last December, claiming the gas pedal inside his 2011 Hyundai Elantra got stuck.

For nearly an hour and a half, dispatchers scrambled for solutions.

“It won't go into neutral. He can't turn it off. The brake pedal won't work,” said the 911 dispatcher.     

“My dispatch was on the phone with him and giving him instructions on how to shut the car down, over power it,” said Rockwall County Sheriff’s Deputy Tim Williamson. “As far as I know, none of that was working.”

Deputies followed close behind.

“I probably got above 130 to catch him,” said Williamson.

He said the teen kept calm and his eyes on the road. 

“When I passed him, he was just kind of sitting there holding the hands, the steering wheel with both hands -- not looking left, not looking right,” said Williamson. “He was not doing any evasive maneuvers.”

News 8 contacted Hyundai about this incident.

In a statement, the company said, "We have heard nothing on this, which is extremely odd for a legitimate complaint."

But, it's interested in seeing the car, saying, "It would be extremely unlikely for simultaneous and spontaneous total system failures for the brakes, accelerator and transmission to occur at the same time."

After 113 miles, Lushaj lost control of the car. It flipped nearly five times.

Williamson pulled up to crushed metal, but the teen was still alive.

“Glad we were able to help him out, though,” said Williamson. “It could have been a lot worse if we didn't stay with him as long as we did.”

The Lushaj family did not want to go on camera, but they have hired an attorney.

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