POLICE ESCORT DRIVER WITH STUCK GAS PEDAL THROUGH FIVE COUNTIES

SIKESTON -- A high-speed odyssey that began Wednesday morning when the accelerator on a Sikeston man's new car became stuck continued through five counties and two states before the vehicle was safely stopped in Illinois.

Jeff Parker placed an emergency call to the Missouri State Highway Patrol from his cell phone at 10:28 a.m. Wednesday to report that he was traveling eastbound on Highway 60 at 90 mph and was unable to slow down. He was in eastern Butler County at the time.

He was instructed to shut the engine off but the car kept going and had three-quarters of a tank of gasoline, police said.

Parker was told to apply his brakes, which slowed the vehicle to 70 mph but the brake pads overheated and his speed increased to 100 mph.

The highway patrol contacted the Ford Motor Company for information about disengaging the accelerator of the Ford Escort but no solution was immediately found. Meanwhile, Police vehicles were summoned to run interference for Parker's car, which by then was reaching speeds over 110 mph and was racing through Stoddard and Scott counties.

The Illinois State Police took over the escort after the driver crossed the Mississippi River Bridge near Charleston and continued 12 miles up I-57 in Alexander County before the car was stopped.

Based on an instruction from the Ford Motor Company, Parker was told to hit the gear shift as hard as he could.

Banging the gear shift into neutral caused the engine to blow and Parker was able to pull over into the median, unhurt.

"It must be a full moon," a spokesman for the Illinois Highway Patrol said.