Man Saves Motorist from Approaching Train: ‘God Had Everything to Do with It’

An Illinois man is being lauded as a hero after he rescued a stuck motorist moments before a train barrelled into his vehicle.

Lewis Medina was driving with his daughter and grandson in Sugar Grove Township, IL on the evening of October 9 when he came across the vehicle and knew something was amiss. He observed a 72-year-old motorist who had taken a turn off of Barnes Road and drove down the train tracks, according to NBC 5.

The motorist had been driving for a moment but his wheels became stuck on the outside rails of the track, according to Fox 32.

“The way the wheels were spinning, I knew somebody was in there,” Medina said to NBC 5. 

Medina sprung into action.

“I told the gentleman ‘how about I get you out of the car to a safe area, and we’ll get your car off the tracks before a train comes,’” Medina told the outlet, but the 72-year-old was suffering from a medical emergency and could not move.

Medina called 911 for help but he observed a train approaching down the tracks and understood time was ticking away, NBC reports.

“I said ‘I don’t think we have time,’ so I unbuckled him, I grabbed him a bear hug, thinking he’ll put his arms around me, but he just slipped right out of my arms,” Medina told NBC 5. “So I grab him by his shirt and pants and he fell right between the tracks so now I’m really panicking.”

Medina’s daughter, Hannah, was still in her father’s vehicle and began to worry, NBC 5 reports.  “I looked out the window and I saw the arm coming down, and at that moment I tried to listen for my dad or any sign that he didn’t get hit, but I couldn’t hear anything over the sound of the horn,” she said.

Medina was able to bring the man to safety as they tumbled down a hill beside the tracks, according to Fox 32.

“As soon as I got him at the bottom of the hill, the train smashed the car,” Medina told CBS 2. 

Medina informed CBS 2 that he learned the 72-year-old man had been suffering from diabetic shock after he was released from the hospital.

Medina will be honored for his selfless rescue at the county board meeting next month.

“I know it was God because there was no way I could have picked that man up there, there’s no way,” Medina told NBC 5. “So I know God had everything to do with it.”