Oliver J. Wood rescued Jeffery E. Finehout from a runaway truck, Madison, Ohio, March 3, 2001. When Finehout, 39, emerged from the one-ton, flatbed truck that he had been driving, the truck, its engine still running, began to roll backward down a slight grade. Grasping the door handle with one hand and the steering wheel with the other, Finehout was dragged by the truck, his legs underneath it. Oliver, 17, high school student, was at work in front of a store located on the same street about 250 feet away. He saw the runaway truck approach, then ran into the street as it arrived, its speed having reached about 20 m.p.h. Oliver jumped over Finehout into the truck’s cab. He pressed the brake pedal with his hand, taking the truck to a stop over the course of 118 feet. Finehout had skin abrasions and was taken to the hospital. Oliver sustained an abrasion and swelling to his knee, which he had struck against the truck while entering. He recovered.
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