A 19-year-old Illinois woman pulled a 75-year-old man from a set of train tracks moments before a train barreled through at over 80 miles per hour, police said.
The young woman, Ashley Aldridge, saved the life of Earl Moorman on Tuesday, the State Journal-Register reported. Aldridge looked out the window over her home in the town of Auburn, and spotted Moorman, whose motorized scooter was stuck in the tracks at a nearby railroad crossing.
“I was making lunch for my kids and I just happened to have my window open this morning,” Aldridge told local news station WTAX. “I went to ask my neighbor if he would watch my kids for me for a minute, and as I’m doing that I hear the horn from the train and the arms start coming down -- I didn’t even think, I just ran over.”
Despite her small size, Aldridge was able to pull the roughly 200-pound Moorman out of harm’s way. Aldridge said the train hit his wheelchair just as she got Moorman off of the tracks.
Moorman called Aldridge his “guardian angel.” Both he and Aldridge escaped with no injuries, according to CBS Chicago.
His wheelchair was destroyed, but WTAX has posted information for anyone who wishes to donate to his getting a new one.
Contact the author of this article at Hilary.Hanson@huffingtonpost.com
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