SUMMARY:
An 80-year-old-man was barely saved earlier this morning, when he fell unconscious behind the wheel of his car, stalling it in the middel of a railroad crossing. Thanks to the quick thinking and quick action of a police officer and a local teenager, his car was pushed off the tracks seconds before the train barreled past. He was later sent to the hospital where he remains in stable condition.
Capt. Janet Paradiso with the Old Orchard Beach police force received the emergency call after a youth discovered the stalled car on the tracks. James Laboke, 17, gets up every morning at 5 a.m. to walk 4 miles to his job as a waiter at the Eezy Breezy Restaurant on East Grand Street. This morning, he came across an unconscious elderly driver behind the wheel of his locked car which had stalled over a set of train tracks.
When he was unresponsive to the boy's pounding on the window, Laboke ran to the local police station 100 yards away. Laboke later said, "I never thought about it. I just knew I could'nt let that man get crushed by a train."
Capt. Janet Paradiso was a mile from the scene when she received the emergency call from the station about a stranded car and an unconscious driver trapped inside.
She arrived on the scene at the train's whistle. She recalled, "I knew there was no time. I had to do something."
Paradiso rammed her police cruiser into the stalled car, pushing it and its helpless driver off the tracks moments before the Downeaster train barreled past. "It was that close," Chief of police Brian Paul said.
The man in the car was later identified as 80-year-old Francois Truffaut, a tourist from Quebec City, Canada. A police report indicated that Truffaut was a diabetic and most likely went into insulin shock just as he crossed the railroad tracks. "I don't remember a thing," said Truffaut rfom his hospital bed at Southern Maine Medical Center. He was listed in stable condition by a hospital official.
Capt. Janet Paradiso with the Old Orchard Beach police force received the emergency call after a youth discovered the stalled car on the tracks. James Laboke, 17, gets up every morning at 5 a.m. to walk 4 miles to his job as a waiter at the Eezy Breezy Restaurant on East Grand Street. This morning, he came across an unconscious elderly driver behind the wheel of his locked car which had stalled over a set of train tracks.
When he was unresponsive to the boy's pounding on the window, Laboke ran to the local police station 100 yards away. Laboke later said, "I never thought about it. I just knew I could'nt let that man get crushed by a train."
Capt. Janet Paradiso was a mile from the scene when she received the emergency call from the station about a stranded car and an unconscious driver trapped inside.
She arrived on the scene at the train's whistle. She recalled, "I knew there was no time. I had to do something."
Paradiso rammed her police cruiser into the stalled car, pushing it and its helpless driver off the tracks moments before the Downeaster train barreled past. "It was that close," Chief of police Brian Paul said.
The man in the car was later identified as 80-year-old Francois Truffaut, a tourist from Quebec City, Canada. A police report indicated that Truffaut was a diabetic and most likely went into insulin shock just as he crossed the railroad tracks. "I don't remember a thing," said Truffaut rfom his hospital bed at Southern Maine Medical Center. He was listed in stable condition by a hospital official.
DELAYED:
Earlier this morning, an 80-year-old man fell unconscious behind the wheel of his car, stalling it over some train tracks and in the direct path of an incoming Amtrak passenger train.
Capt. Janet Paradiso with the Old Orchard Beach police force received the emergency call after 17-year-old James Laboke discovered the stalled car while on his morning route to work. Paradiso managed to ram her police cruiser into the stalled car, throwing it off the tracks moments before the Downeaster rumbled through. Thanks to the quick action of the police officer and a young passerby, Truffaut was saved in the nick of time. A police report indicated that the elderly man was a diabetic and most likely went into insulin shock. The driver, Francois Truffaut said later from his hospital bed at Southern Medical maine Center, "I don't remember a thing."
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