Fast-acting teen saves woman from oncoming train

Colton Essary, a student at Frankfort Community High School in Illinois, was driving back to school with his friend Maddie Hunt after their lunch break when he spotted an elderly woman who had fallen on train tracks ahead of them.

She was unable to get back up.

As a train approached, the woman screamed for help.

Without hesitation, Essary got out of his truck and ran to the woman, pulling her out of the path of the moving train with just seconds to spare.

"It was just a traumatic event and I’m thankful it turned out ok," Essary told KFVS.

The woman, a grandmother of seven, thanked Essary for saving her life.

"I had an obligation to help and if I wouldn’t have made it there in time, I couldn’t really live with myself," Essary said. “Seeing that happen right in front of me and knowing I didn’t do anything to help.”

While Essary and his friend were late returning to class, the principal excused their tardiness and praised them for doing the right thing.

"I’m glad that they were aware of what was going on and able to help her when she needed it," said Bethany Shaw, principal of Frankfort Community High School. “Maddie and Colton are shining examples to our student body.”

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In April, an off-duty TSA worker jumped onto Chicago subway tracks to save a woman’s life. Wearing a brightly coloured hoodie, he hoped he would be visible to the driver. He was. The train screeched to a halt just in time.

And in the summer of 2012, Delroy Simmonds, an unemployed father of two, missed a job interview to save a baby from subway tracks in Brooklyn.

When his story made headlines, job offers poured in.

"It says a lot about his character that he would jump on the tracks to save a little boy," Simmonds’ new boss told NY Daily News. “We are happy to hire Delroy. We are honoured.”

(Screengrab from KFVS)