I'm willing to believe the guy. He was supposedly talking to multiple news agencies in that video, so he was looking all around at different people. The officer also noted he could smell the brakes when he pulled along side the car on the highway. In the 911 call (
http://jalopnik.com/5489553/runaway-...ape-im-over-90) you can hear the worry in his voice and towards the 3 minute mark of the audio he even appears to be sobbing.
That said, I don't think he is very smart if he couldn't figure out to shift the car into neutral and gently come to a stop...