Good Samaritan Rescues Man in Wheelchair Stuck On BNSF Railroad Tracks
(Galesburg, Illinois – July 13, 2011)
A woman from Galesburg, IL is convinced Divine Intervention caused her to take a different route home Wednesday afternoon about 1:30 P.M., when she came upon a man in a wheelchair stuck on Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad tracks at the North Academy Street crossing.
Cynthia Wright saw the victim in dire straits, pulled her car over and ran to help the man, whose motorized wheelchair battery had died, immobilizing the vehicle. Her efforts to dislodge the chair from the tracks were futile until a horn announced the impending arrival of a train. Wright then got the victim out of the chair, and with what she described as “the strength of God”, got the wheeled vehicle out of the rut between rail and crossing surface.
As the first of two trains – one in each direction on double tracks – bore down upon them, Wright inched the man and his wheelchair to safety with only seconds to spare. Galesburg Police officers arrived shortly thereafter, and found both individuals in good condition.
