Tourist Saved by Oncoming Train

Today, 80-year-old tourist Francois Trufaut, unconscious behind the wheel, was saved from an oncoming train by Janet Paradiso, a police officer who pushed his car out of the way just in time.

“I knew there was no time. I had to do something,” said Paradiso.

At 6 a.m, James Laboke, a local teenager, found Trufaut’s car stalled on the tracks, according to a police report. The young man, who doesn’t own a cell phone, ran the 100 yards to the police station. He reported an unconscious man, locked doors, and a running engine, all in the way of the daily Amtrak train, called the Downeaster.

A mile away from the railroad, Paradiso received a call on the radio about the stranded vehicle. As she arrived, she heard the train’s whistle. Before the train could intercept them, she rammed her police cruiser into Trufaut’s 1987 pink Cadillac Seville and pushed it from the tracks. Thirty seconds later, the train passed through, travelling at 40 miles per hour.

Truffaut said later from a hospital bed at Southern Main Medical Center: “I don’t remember a thing.” He was listed in stable condition. Trufaut, a diabetic, is said to have gone into insulin shock just as he reached the railroad crossing. He has been coming to old Orchard Beach since he was a child.

As for the young man who alerted the police about Trufaunt, community members are not shocked. “It doesn’t surprise me at all,” said Charles Champaigne, Laboke’s boss at the Eezy Breezy Restaurant. “That young man is one of my most responsible employees. He’s just a great kid.”

Later, asked about his heroism, Laboke said, “I never thought about it. I just knew I couldn’t let that man get crushed by a train.”