Jean-Guy Gravelle 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, Gravelle, 37, business operator, and his brother-in-law saw the car and, after parking, began to approach it on foot, Gravelle 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, Gravelle and his brother-in-law did not know on which track the train was traveling. They ran to the car. Gravelle opened the driver’s door and pulled DaSilva from the vehicle, but, resisting, DaSilva attempted to get back in. Gravelle and his brother-in-law secured a hold on DaSilva and 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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