A teenage waiter and a police officer rescued 80-year-old tourist Francois Truffaut from a train collision when his car stopped in a railroad crossing in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, this morning.
James Laboke, a 17-year-old waiter at the Eezy Breezy Restaurant, was walking to work when he spotted Truffaut’s 1987 pink Cadillac Seville on the tracks. Laboke, who does not own a cell phone, ran 300 feet to the police station to get help.
“I never thought about it,” Laboke said. “I just knew I couldn’t let that man get crushed by a train.”
Laboke told the police that a car was stalled on the tracks and the driver was slumped over the steering wheel, remaining unconscious despite Laboke pounding on the window.
Captain Janet Paradiso was a mile away from the tracks when she got the call over the radio. Paradiso arrived on the scene at 6:05 a.m. and could hear the train’s whistle from close by.
“I knew there was no time,” Paradiso said. “I had to do something.”
According to Chief of Police Brian Paul, Paradiso slammed her police cruiser into Truffaut’s car and pushed it off the tracks. Thirty seconds later, the train came through the crossing at about 40 miles per hour.
“It was that close,” said Paul.
Truffaut is in stable condition but does not remember anything of the incident. Police reports said that the cause of the incident may have been an insulin shock due to Truffaut’s diabetes.
After Truffaut’s rescue, Laboke went to work as if nothing happened, and did not mention his eventful morning to his boss, Charles Champaigne, who found out what happened from a reporter.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” said Champaigne. “That young man is one of my most responsible employees. He’s just a great kid.”
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