(The following story by Ken Carlson appeared on the Modesto Bee website on August 14.)
HUGHSON, Calif. — With a suicidal man on the tracks and an Amtrak train approaching, the four men didn’t have much time to think.
But their actions saved the man’s life and kept the train from crashing into his pickup and causing a derailment.
Monday night, the City Council gave commendations to Stanislaus County Sheriff’s deputy Dennis Wallace, city employee Brian Holloway, Matt Spears and Thom Crowder, the latter a former mayor and president of Hughson Ambulance. The commendations recognized their heroic acts “in preserving life and public safety.”
“Without everyone working together, someone could have been hurt that day,” Wallace said this week. “It was just a good community effort and an example of citizens not hesitating to help law enforcement.”
The four men know each other and happened to be near the Whitmore Avenue and Santa Fe railroad crossing at 1:45 p.m. July 17. They gave the following account:
Holloway was driving a city truck east on Whitmore and pulled behind a Datsun pickup stopped on the tracks, just west of Santa Fe Avenue. He saw the man, in his mid 40s, standing on the tracks 20 feet away.
“He was screaming at me and telling me to go around,” Holloway said. “I thought he was mad his truck had broken down. But then I heard him say, ‘I’m waiting for a train.’ ”
Suspecting the man was attempting suicide, Holloway called 911 on his cell phone. As he reported the incident, he swung his truck around and backed into the pickup to push it off the track.
He nudged the pickup but couldn’t get it out of the crossing because of a line of cars behind it. Crowder, who had heard the dispatch in his office nearby, arrived in his Ford Crown Victoria, and Spears ran across the street to help.
Spears jumped into the pickup to steer, and Crowder used the Crown Victoria to push it to the east side of the railroad crossing, out of the way.
That’s when Spears heard a train whistle. Crowder heard it too, and saw an Amtrak train approaching from the south, less than two miles away.
By that time, the man was walking north on the tracks, shirtless and flailing his arms, with Holloway shadowing him on the railroad frontage.
Wallace was on a lunch break a few blocks away when he got the call. He usually works in Salida, but was asked to patrol in Hughson that day.
Spears and Crowder told the deputy a suicidal man was on the tracks. He was now halfway between the Whitmore and Tully Road crossings. Wallace drove that way, keeping an eye on the train in his rear-view mirror.
Tense moments
Passenger trains pass through the area at 70 to 80 mph. As he drove with his window down, Holloway urged the man to get off the track, but then decided to try to remove him.
“I was having an emotional week and I didn’t need to see this guy get hit by a train,” he said.
Holloway was walking up to the man as Wallace, now on foot, also approached. Wallace calmly asked the man to get off the tracks, and when he didn’t cooperate, Wallace activated a Taser, knocking him to the ground.
Holloway helped the deputy get the man clear of the tracks. Crowder walked up, removed the Taser prong and rendered first aid.
The Amtrak train came to a stop just short of the Whitmore intersection, about 200 yards from where the man was subdued. Dispatchers had notified the train operators.
The suicidal man continued to protest, saying nobody would care if he died. He was taken to the Doctors Medical Center behavioral health center on Claus Road in Modesto. Wallace said the man thanked him after he calmed down. He lives in Riverbank and has a history of mental illness; his name was not released.
Wallace said the Taser was the safest alternative for everyone involved.
“Trying to tackle him was not a good alternative,” Wallace said. “We didn’t know whether or not the train was going to be able to stop at 70 to 80 mph.”
Besides saving the man’s life, city officials believe that nearby motorists and people on the train were in danger. If the train had crashed into the pickup, it could have derailed the train or sent the pickup careening into other vehicles.
“It could have created a lot of problems if the volunteers did not step up,” City Councilman Henry Hesling said. “They put themselves at risk, knowing the train was coming and knowing they only had so much time.”