A car was stalled on the Amtrak train tracks with an older unconscious man trapped inside in Old Orchard Beach yesterday.
The 80-year-old man was found slumped over the steering wheel of his car by James Laboke, a 17-year-old Orchard Beach resident while walking to work at six a.m. that morning.
According to the police report, Laboke pounded on the car window but the driver remained unconscious. Laboke, who does not own a cell phone, then immediately ran 100 yards to the police station on Pier Street to report the emergency.
Laboke said later, "I never thought about it. I just knew I couldn't let the man get crushed by a train."
Janet Paradiso, captain of the Old Orcahrd Beach Police was in her cruiser about a mile away from the railroad crossing when she heard the call on the radio about the stranded vehicle.
Paradiso arrived five minutes later hearing the train's whistle.
According to Brian Paul, Old Orchard Beach Chief of Police, Paradiso rammed her police cruiser into the unconscious man's car, pushing it off the tracks.
Paradiso said, "I knew there was no time, I had to do something."
Only thirty seconds later, the train pushed through the crossing at about 40 mph.
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