(The following story by Daniel Thigpen appeared on the Stockton Record website on May 12.)
LODI, Calif. — Sam Huffman didn’t take time to assess the situation. He just acted.
If not, Lodi police say, 82-year-old Marguerite Jones most certainly would have died.
A train was barreling straight for her after she fell out of her wheelchair late Saturday night. Huffman lifted her off the tracks across Locust Street just seconds before the train passed.
“I feel God got him to be there to get me off the railroad tracks,” Jones said Sunday from the lobby of the downtown Hotel Lodi, where she lives.
Police praised Huffman for his selfless action.
“In my 27 years of law enforcement, I’ve seen very few acts of heroism like I did that night,” said Lt. Virgil Monroe, who was patrolling the area that night and witnessed the close-call.
Jones’ frightening ordeal began as she was on her way home from a gathering on the other side of town about 10 p.m. She was heading west on Locust street in her motorized wheelchair and approached the Union Pacific tracks, a route she typically takes.
She could hear the train coming from the south, but Jones said she thought she was still a block away from the tracks, so she kept going, expecting to have to stop and wait until the train passed.
Instead, her wheels buckled underneath her as she crossed, ejecting her from the chair, she said. She looked up as she lay on the tracks.
“I saw the flashing lights of the train, and I just knew I was going to die,” Jones said.
Earlier, 20-year-old Huffman had driven past Jones on Locust Street, before the tracks’ crossing guard rails were deployed. He was on his way downtown to see a movie with his girlfriend.
He stopped at the intersection of Sacramento Street, looked in his rearview mirror, and saw Jones on the tracks.
In an instant, Huffman said he backed his pickup up to the tracks and jumped out. He ducked underneath the guard rails, put his arms around her and pulled.
He didn’t have a chance to grab her wheelchair. As he turned them both from the tracks, the train, coming at them at 40 mph, struck the wheelchair and knocked it several feet away before stopping.
They were only about three feet from the train when it passed.
“I’m glad I didn’t second guess; I’m glad I didn’t think, because it was very close,” Huffman said.
Jones wasn’t injured.
Monroe said medics and fire crews who responded to the scene each thanked Huffman for his quick thinking.
“I’m just really glad I got the opportunity to save someone’s life,” Huffman said.