George E. Gorton, III

George E. Gorton III attempted to rescue a girl from an out-of-control vehicle, East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, August 2, 2008. A 3-year-old girl was alone in her family’s passenger van, which was parked facing downhill along a residential street. The van began to coast down the grade, attracting the attention of those at a yard sale across the street, including Gorton, 45, biomedical engineer. Although he was wearing cycling shoes with exposed cleats, Gorton immediately ran to the van, but it was moving too fast for him to open a door. He extended his arms through the open window of the driver’s door and pulled on the steering wheel to keep the van from striking a car parked in its path. His feet dragging on the pavement, Gordon then steered the van toward the rise of a yard on the opposite side of the street. The van approached the yard but came too close to another parked car for Gorton to clear it. Caught between the two vehicles, he was thrown to the pavement. The van continued but came to a stop on striking a tree in the yard. The girl was uninjured, but Gorton suffered a broken leg, requiring hospitalization, surgery, and extended convalescence.