Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/07/26/cop-hauls-ass-to-save-man-from.html
…
7 Likes
And that, boys and girls, is the closest the real world will ever come to the Trolley Problem.
Also, that’s good police-work.
36 Likes
I dunno. I mean he could have done a better job of at least stabilizing the camera. /s
10 Likes
Good on the cop for trying so hard. Kinda looked like that train might have bumped the guy in the butt pretty hard otherwise 
This reminds me of a legit featured Darwin Award story of a guy on a cellphone in an area with spotty reception. He wandered onto a train track, the train honked at him to move and the guy plugged his free ear and turned away from the train. He didn’t make it needless to say.
2 Likes
He was sleeping on the tracks, and the train goes over the part where he was lying. No bump on the butt, he would have been crushed.
3 Likes
Before I even clicked on the video, I thought, “the walker must’ve been white.” and Nope! Happy to be wrong about that one!
3 Likes
Story:
10 Likes
WTF! I about shit myself.
Jesus, I’m getting old. That cop looks about 12.
3 Likes
I grew up alongside a spur line of the AT&SF railroad outside of L.A. (as mentioned in a previous post). We had our share of “jumpers” – folks intentionally jumping in front of moving trains. We had a guy who was high on PCP who for whatever reason sat down in the middle of the tracks.
If you really want to “git 'er done”, I would say death by rail vehicle is quite effective. But there’s a crew operating that train that will be haunted for a long time, there are emergency personnel and bystanders who will not be able to erase the memories of exactly how a speeding locomotive dismantles a human being over several hundred yards.
Then someone has to come in and clean up after the coroner has removed all the large bits. They always sent in the fire department who would hose down the section of affected track. But even then we’d find little bits here and there. Torn blue jean fragments stained rust black. A tooth. A sliver of bone.
7 Likes
How nice to hear about a cop saving a life instead of taking one…
10 Likes
In Japan some people will jump in front of commuter trains, which is much worse for the drivers because they get a really clear view of the tracks 
Would be horrible to see an accident or incident involving a person.
2 Likes
Once I was a passenger on a train when someone committed suicide by jumping in front of it. We were there for hours, because they backed another train down the track to meet ours so that they could avoid disturbing the scene. We disembarked into the weeds by the side of the train (which was not easy because it was steep - unlike at the station). The crew directed us to walk to the second train, where we boarded again. It took a long time to stop thinking about it, and I didn’t really see anything.
Back then (in the '90s) this seemed rare. Now, it’s in the news at least once a month between the commuter rail and Amtrak cases. There are easier and more private ways to end it all. I get the feeling there’s more to it when a person chooses such a public and disturbing method.
1 Like
I saw a Datsun 510 Wagon get hit buy a freight train right in front of me in Truckee, CA about 35 years ago. Still one of the most vivid memories. By some crazy miracle the woman – who tried to jump out of her car at the last minute and then reconsidered and was hit when unbuckled – was more or less unhurt, considering. Some cuts on her forehead and her hand was pretty smashed up. The car was tossed a good 75’ down the track, 10’ out and about 15’ feet up. The force really is staggering.
1 Like
Officials said the man, who had been going through a rough time, fell asleep on the tracks.
I don’t know what life situation or state of mind would find oneself sleeping on train tracks. But my imagination of what might, combined with the heartbreaking crack in that man’s voice as he said ‘Thank you’ just washes away any inclination to make a Darwin Award joke.
12 Likes
I’m guessing the guy was hearing impaired, especially after listening to him speak. He likely didn’t hear the train coming up behind him.
3 Likes
I’m guessing here that the 20 pounds of weight mentioned is well distributed as I don’t think the police are inherently stupid. A knight wearing 50 pounds of armor was frighteningly agile.
2 Likes
I would like to buy that police officer a new pair of shoes.
Excellent effort, and that officer is what I will try to keep in my mind when I start to grump on Le PoPo.
1 Like
Yeah, I used to know a guy in the railways union for our local commuter trains, and an unofficial part of his job was making sure the driver got home allright and had smeone around to keep an eye on tem etc.
3 Likes
