I live in San Diego where the CA State Trooper incident happened.

In this case, the car was a loaner Lexus with push button ignition he had just picked up from the dealership. He had never driven a car with this feature before, and was not aware that to turn the car off, the ignition had to be held down for 5 seconds - much like a computer power switch. It is completely understandable that he was not able to figure this out from the owners manual or by talking to the 911 operator while in a panic situation.

I'm not sure why he didn't put the car in neutral as other comments have suggested - the transmission may have had some type of interlock feature preventing this. The area where the incident happened is also a fairly steep downgrade, so with the brakes already shot, he may have done this but it didn't change the outcome.

I just wanted to say I commiserate. I had a small 'blotch' on my jaw that a Nurse Practicioner diagnosed as Viral as I did not have a fever the day I went to see her (my primary was not available). This despite my complaints of a fever and aches the day before and it being warm to the touch. In the next days it flared up and ended up exactly like your situation. The most noticeable side-effect was blisters on my ears, which after some reasearch on WebMD I knew could be shingles, but I also knew shingles was not very likely in my age group. In my case urgent care diagnosed it correctly as an infection (they said strep, but it could have just as easily been staph), and after some hard core antibiotics I was fine. At the time I thought it was very strange; it is comforting to have some company.