News Lead:
Early today, a young man saved the life of an elderly tourist by informing police that his car was stalled on the railroad tracks with the driver unconscious at the wheel of the vehicle.
Old Orchard Beach Police Chief Brian Paul and policewoman Janet Paradiso pushed the 1987 Cadillac off the tracks with their cruiser while the driver, 80-year-old tourist Francois Truffaut, from Quebec City, Canada, remained incapacitated.
The Amtrak Downeaster rolled through the scene just 30 seconds after the car was removed from the train tracks. Police reported that Truffaut, a diabetic, may have gone into insulin shock just as he reached the railroad crossing.
“It was that close,” Paul said. Both Paul and Paradiso reported to scene at 6:05 this morning.
A hospital official from the Southern Maine Medical Center later said that Truffaut was listed in stable condition.
“I don’t remember a thing,” Truffaut said from his hospital room.
Police responded to the scene after 17-year-old James Laboke, a waiter at the Eezy Breezy Restaurant and Old Orchard Beach citizen, ran into the station and told officials that he saw a man passed out at the wheel and stalled on the train tracks.
Laboke tried to rescue the driver, only to discover that all doors and windows were locked. He pounded on the windows in an attempt to wake Truffaut, again to no avail. He then sprinted to the police station in search of help.
“I never thought about it,” Laboke said. “I just knew I couldn’t let that man get crushed by a train.”
Laboke’s boss at the Eezy Breezy restaurant, Charles Champaigne, said that his behavior doesn’t surprise him at all.
“That young man is one of my most responsible employees. He’s just a great kid," he said.


Delayed Lead:
For 80-year-old Francois Truffaut, a yearly tourist from Quebec City, Canada, his latest trip to Old Orchard Beach, Maine, could have been his last. However, with the help of 17-year-old James Laboke, a citizen of Old Orchard Beach, Truffaut may still travel here once again.
Police reported to the Amtrak crossing when Laboke informed Police Chief Brian Paul that a car was stalled on the tracks.
Laboke was on his way to work, where he waits tables at the Eezy Breezy Restaurant, when he noticed that a car was stalled on the tracks at 6 in the morning. He went up to the car and noticed a man, Truffaut, unconscious at the wheel, while all doors were locked and windows were rolled up. The train scheduled to make its way through Old Orchard Beach at 6:10.
Policewoman Janet Paradiso rammed her cruiser into the rear of the 1987 Cadillac, driven by Truffaut, and pushed the car from the tracks less than a minute before the Downeaster came thundering through Old Orchard Beach.
“I don’t remember a thing,” Truffaut later said from his hospital bed. He is a diabetic, but is now listed in stable condition.