Frank Roder was ticketed last week for not being able to stop his car from flying into the Rahway River. The reason for this absentmindedness? Roder leapt out of the car to chase after his son who was running straight for the 35-foot drop.

“He hopped out, and I thought that was OK. I was just going to park,” Roder recounted. “He just took off, made a beeline for the edge.”

Roder narrowly saved his son from the edge. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to save his Jeep from sliding down the embankment into the river.

Witnessing the heroic act, a cop decided to reward the dad with two tickets — one for failing to apply the brakes on his car and another for failing to show his insurance card (which was in his car which in turn was in the river).

The cop scolded the dad for simply not applying the brakes. “I say, ‘Really? And if I did and my boy stepped over the edge and fell instead of the Jeep, then where would I be?’ The angry dad said, ‘Jail, for child endangerment’.”

Instead of fighting the ticket, the dad will pay the $110 fine. “I don’t care, I’ll pay it,” Roder said. “It’s just the principle. When something like that happens so fast, I could give a rat’s a– about the car.”