Locking up while driving?

My neighbor has a 1988 or 87 delta 88 royal. He was driving it the other day and it locked up on him. He could not steer or brake, but the engine was still running. He also said that when he finally got it stopped he went to put it in park and it went backwards. He said that it had locked up on him before but that was when he would first start it so he would shut it off and restart it which made it work. He did say that the check engine light turned on after he got the car stopped after it locked up on him. Although he didn't get the code run so i don't know what that was regarding. His grandpa also thought that the car would not go into overdrive but i don't know if that is for sure or not. This seems to me like a computer problem or something of that matter but i don't know what they had on these cars. I does have the 3.8L v6 if that helps any. Let me know of you can come up with anything and i will try to get more information when i can. It also has 97,000 miles on it. thanks guys

Sounds more like a flakey transmission to me.

Transmission? Where Did You Come Up With That Its Fwd

The Engine Could Not Have Been Running Thats Why He Didn't Have Ps Brake Assist And The Ses Light Was On At Bulb Check.

I don't know but he said it was still running thats what was stumping everyone that he talked to. How would a faulty transmission affect the steering locking up? Also where is the plug to check the engine light at i didn't see it when i briefly looked at his car.

Transmission? Where Did You Come Up With That Its Fwd

WTF? Why do you keep double posting? And YES....a FWD drive car has a transmission...unless you want to call it a "transaxle" as GM does. This looks a lot like a tranny to me: http://www.cardomain.com/member_pages/show_image.pl?bg=FF0000&image=http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/2/web/2318000-2318999/2318168_32_full.jpg

I said tranny since he said that it wouldn't go into overdrive and that it would go into drive when in park on the gear selector.

As for the PS and Brakes going out, it does confuse me. If the engine was still turning the PS pump would still have been powering the steering rack and the brake assist. Odd.