AMAZING VIDEO: 'Superhero' officer runs down driverless SUV

BRIDGEPORT, Conn - Caught on camera -- a Connecticut officer rushes to stop a runaway SUV headed for a group of school kids. Now he is being called a hero.

Bridgeport Police Officer Carlos Carmo was on Boston Avenue Monday when he spotted a black SUV roll by with nobody in the driver's seat. So he ran after it.

With kids walking by on their way home from Harding High School, Carmo grabbed the runaway vehicle in busy traffic and physically stopped it.

“You know the officer did sustain some injuries. He was taken to the hospital,” explained Lt. Paul Grech from the Bridgeport Police Department.

Lieutenant Grech says Carmo, a school resource officer who was assigned to nearby Harding High School, put his life at risk to keep the public safe.

“He saved someone's life,” said Grech. “It could have been a tragic day for these students that could have been run over by this runaway vehicle.”

“He caught up to the vehicle. He grabbed the passenger front door with all his might. He pulled the door so hard the vehicle came to a stop,” said said Grech.

Police say the vehicle, containing two passengers, one of them an elderly woman, had somehow slipped out of park and rolled away.

Student Alina Khan thanked Officer Carmo for stopping the vehicle and keeping her classmates safe.

“I feel that's really nice and really heroic for him to do that,” said Khan.

Police say around this time of year people give to show they care, but officers like Carmo are always giving at great personal risk.

“I take my hat off to him and all the officers, not just in Bridgeport, but around the state and the country for putting their life on the line, especially during the holiday times,” said Grech.

The mayor of Bridgeport plans to honor Officer Carmo for his heroic actions.