Michael A. Radwich rescued Scott L. Pierce from being crushed by a gravel-sorting machine, Dalton, Massachusetts, October 18, 1989. Pierce, 21, was helping to repair a machine at the sand and gravel plant where he was employed when his clothing became caught on a rotating shaft of the machine. He was pulled to the shaft, which drove the machine’s nearby gears, and his left arm was almost completely severed. Radwich, 24, plant foreman, who was working with Pierce, immediately grasped Pierce around the waist with both arms and pulled him free of the shaft. In his so doing, Radwich’s left hand was caught briefly against the shaft: the thumb of that hand was almost completely severed, and the left forearm was fractured. Both men required extensive hospitalization, during which Pierce’s arm and Radwich’s thumb were reattached.
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