Lewis A. Medina, a 60-year-old construction driver of Aurora, Illinois, was driving in Aurora on the night of Oct. 9, 2021, when he spotted a sports utility vehicle on a train track. Parking, he called 911 to report the vehicle, but shortly a train, traveling at 40 m.p.h., approached on the same track. Medina ran to the SUV and shouted for the driver to leave the vehicle, but the 72-year-old man was unresponsive. As the crossing alarms sounded and the gates at a nearby intersection descended, Medina pulled open the driver’s door, unbuckled the driver’s seat belt and, bear-hugging him, pulled him from the car. He fell to the track, and Medina tugged at his clothes to clear him from the rails before rolling him down a hill to safety. The train struck the SUV, throwing it about 1,000 feet away.
91998-10302
