Edward C. McIntyre rescued Michael L. and Charlotte K. Martinelli and William L. Brandon who were in a runaway automobile, Erie, Pennsylvania, July 21, 1963. Michael, 3, Charlotte, 11, and William, 4, were on the front seat of a station wagon when the vehicle began to move backward down a sloping street. McIntyre, 28, electrical technician, heard the children screaming and saw the runaway automobile, which was traveling at 10 m.p.h. Running 35 feet, he overtook the vehicle, held to the left door handle, and reached through the open window to grasp the steering wheel. McIntyre ran alongside the station wagon as it continued to the bottom of the slope, attaining a speed of 12 m.p.h. As the vehicle’s momentum carried it backward toward a parked automobile. William started to climb out through the right window. Fearing that William might be crushed between the two vehicles, McIntyre opened the door of the station wagon, lunged into the driver’s seat, and by applying the brake stopped the vehicle within a foot of the parked automobile. The children escaped injury. McIntyre had severed the tendon in his left heel. He twice underwent surgery and was disabled for six months.
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