Early yesterday morning, Old Orchard Beach local, James Laboke saved a man from the train tracks after the man passed out inside his car stuck on the tracks.
Police arrived to the scene just after 6 a.m. and found 80-year-old Francois Truffant, from Quebec City, Canada, unconscious in his car. First officer on the scene, Captain Janet Paradiso, rammed Truffant's car off the tracks 30 seconds before the train approached.
Laboke, 17 years old, had been taking his usual 5 a.m. 4 mile walk to Eezy Breezy, where he works as a waiter, when he noticed the car on the tracks. After banging on the man's windows to try to wake him up, Laboke ran to the local police station, 100 yards away, to get help.
"I never though about it" Laboke said, "I just knew I couldn't let that man get crushed by a train".
After the station put out the call on the police radio, Paradiso immediately responded. As she arrived to the scene, she heard the train's whistle and the only thing she could do was ram Truffant's car out of the way.
"I knew there was no time," Paradiso said, "I had to do something".
Truffant, who had been coming to Old Orchard Beach, Maine since he was a child, was taken to the Southern Maine Medical Center where he was listed in stable condition. "I don't remember a thing" Truffant said in the hospital. Insulin shock was said to have been the cause of Truffant's unconsciousness, as the man has diabetes.
Laboke continued his day as he normally would and arrived to work on time. Owner and boss, Charles Champaigne, learned of the incident later in the day when a reporter called.
"It doesn't surprise me at all," Champaigne said, "that young man is one of my most responsible employees. He's just a great kid".
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