Dale E. Getter saved Marki A. Fredricks from being struck by a train, Sumner, Washington, May 24, 1994. Marki, 4, was playing along a railroad track on which a train was approaching at 30 m.p.h. The train’s engineer sounded its horn, and Marki ran away from the train, but she stayed alongside the track, next to the rail. Although the engineer then applied the train’s emergency brakes, Getter, 59, railroad conductor, who was in the front locomotive, knew that the train would not stop in time. He left the cab of the locomotive and went to the top of a set of stairs that extended down to track level at the front, right side of the train. Holding to handrails, he descended to the bottom step, then positioned his right leg in front of the moving train and kicked Marki off the track when the train reached her. The train required another 600 feet to stop. Marki sustained a bruise to her left shoulder, and she recovered.
68857 – 7902
68857-7902