Lilly Baker

Lilly Baker rescued a woman from the path of an oncoming train, Ardmore, Tennessee, February 5, 2024. At a crossing, a woman, 53, was attempting to walk across a set of train tracks while pushing her wheelchair in front of her as a freight train approached at approximately 35 m.p.h. Baker, 18, high school student, was driving on the road intersecting the tracks when she noticed the woman struggling, pulled over, and offered her a ride. When the woman accepted, Baker drove fully across the tracks, parked her vehicle, exited, and moved toward her. As Baker reached the woman, the crossing arms came down and the bells and train horn began to sound, signaling that a train was approaching. Positioning herself behind the woman, Baker grabbed under her arms, spun the woman around, and began walking backward while dragging the woman, falling twice. Baker stood up about halfway and, again, grabbed the woman under her arms and pulled as hard as she could as the two of them fell to the ground beside the tracks just as the train passed. The woman’s legs were hit by the passing train. She was taken by ambulance to a hospital and treated for two broken ankles and several lacerations on her legs and has since recovered. Baker was uninjured, though the train’s operator told her the train missed her by about 18 inches.

2025-0000039-10523