You can't turn off the key because the key just has to be in the car for the car to work! I've driven my friend's Prius and I keep the key in my pocket. I push the power button and the car starts. Put it into forward and it goes.
You can probably put the car into neutral as per John W above, but the person probably panicked.
The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.
Tom Clancy - author