At 6 a.m. this morning James Laboke, 17, found 80-year-old Francois Truffaut unconscious in his car on top of the Amtrak train tracks in Old Orchard Beach, Maine.
The Amtrak train has a Downeaster route which goes from Portland, Maine to Boston. During the summer there is an Old Orchard Beach stop added. The stop times begin at 6:10 a.m.
Laboke, a Sudanes refugee who has lived in Old Orchard for the past three years, knew of the train schedule and ran 100 yards to the police station to report the incident. He then went to work at Eezy Breezy restaurant where his boss, Charles Champaigne, upon learning of the incident said “It doesn’t surprise me at all. That young man is one of my most responsible employees. He’s just a great kid.”
Captain Janet Paradiso of the local police department was first to arrive on the scene and made the split second decision to take her cruiser full speed into Truffaut’s vehicle, getting him safely across with thirty seconds before the train came through.
The conductor, Shirley Temple, was at a loss of what to do upon seeing Truffaut on the tracks. “It takes a good mile for the breaks to bring this train to a full stop. Plus if I were to hit the brakes hard I could have endangered the passengers on board.I'm just glad it all worked out.”
Truffaut was taken to Southern Maine Medical Center where he remains in stable condition. According to the police report he is a diabetic and may have received his insulin shot before the incident which could have resulted in him becoming unconscious.
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