Tom A. Fatsis helped to save Joao DaSilva from being struck by a train, Mississauga, Ontario, December 22, 1998. DaSilva, 32, remained in the driver’s seat of his car, which, in darkness, was stranded on the center of three railroad tracks not far from a highway crossing. Traveling on the highway, Fatsis, 33, technician, and his brother-in-law saw the car and, after parking, began to approach it on foot, the brother-in-law alerting authorities by portable telephone. While they were en route to the car, the crossing’s gates and warning mechanisms were activated, indicating the approach of a freight train, which was traveling at about 40 m.p.h. As the train was not in sight because of a curve in the tracks, Fatsis and his brother-in-law did not know on which track the train was traveling. They ran to the car. After DaSilva was pulled from the car by the brother-in-law and, resisting, attempted to get back in, Fatsis and his brother-in-law secured a hold on him. They moved him away from the track just before the train, in emergency braking, struck the car and pushed it along the track about a quarter-mile before stopping.
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