Edward K. Grimmer saved a man from being struck by a train, Seattle, Washington, October 7, 2024. After falling approximately 25 feet from a bridge ledge at night, the man, 57, landed inches from a set of railroad tracks and lay with critical injuries as a train approached at about 35 m.p.h. Grimmer, 34, an on-duty police officer, responded to the scene and, along with two other officers, positioned himself on a rail platform near three parallel railroad tracks just before the man fell. In the darkness and without immediately seeing precisely where the man landed, Grimmer went across two sets of tracks, including the tracks the train was on, before spotting the man lying on the gravel inches from the middle set of tracks on which the train approached. Grimmer went to the man, grabbed him by the fabric of his hooded sweatshirt, and pulled him away from the tracks just as the train passed through, narrowly missing the man’s legs and Grimmer’s head by a couple feet. As the train took several minutes to pass, Grimmer stayed with the man until firefighters could safely cross the tracks to treat him. The man was transported to a hospital with numerous broken bones, including both arms and one leg, and facial and spinal fractures. He also suffered trauma to his head and face. Grimmer was uninjured.
