Frederick D. Mincey, 24, truck driver, helped to save Louis Calabro, 13, from possible electric shock, Brooklyn, New York, August 16, 1967. Louis, atop a boxcar when the train started moving, lay face down across the metal catwalk about 28 inches below the high-voltage trolley wire. Sometime later there was an explosive flash, and a ball of fire ignited his clothing. A circuit breaker was activated, and the train began to slow. Mincey and R. K. McCain, Jr., a 14-year-old youth, were loading a truck in the freight yards and saw Louis writhing in flames atop the boxcar. Fearing Louis would come in contact with the trolley wire, which he believed to be charged, Mincey ran to alongside the boxcar as the train continued to slow. He grasped a ladder on the car and climbed onto the top, where he crouched beneath the trolley wire and took hold of the legs of Louis, who still was flailing. The engineer stopped the drifting train. Mincey attempted in vain to beat out the flames on the clothing of Louis and then concentrated on holding him down. With his body extended partially across Louis, Mincey’s head and shoulder were within inches of the trolley wire. Meanwhile McCain had followed Mincey to near the boxcar, and other persons had been attracted. Mincey called to McCain to aid him in holding Louis. McCain moved to the boxcar and climbed a ladder to where his head and shoulders were above the car. He leaned over the top and held the feet of Louis with both hands. Concerned for McCain’s safety, Mincey then told him to get down. McCain, who had held the feet of Louis for several minutes, descended the ladder. Two trainmen left the cab of the engine. One of them called the control tower and then said he had been told that the power had been shut off. The two men called to Mincey to get off the car; but Mincey continued to plead for aid for Louis, who still was screaming and flailing. By that time the flames on the clothing of Louis had diminished, and Mincey had extinguished them. Two policemen climbed onto the boxcar. All on top of the car were told by the trainman that he had been assured that the power was off. A board was hoisted to the top of the car, and Mincey was strapped to it and lowered to the ground. The policemen and Mincey then descended from the car. Louis was hospitalized with extensive burns. Mincey had sustained superficial burns on his hand and arm.
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