WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Sedgwick County sheriff’s deputy is being lauded as a hero after pulling a driver from a wrecked cement truck just a minute or two before a freight train smashed into it.
The Wichita Eagle reports that the truck rolled over Friday morning in south Wichita. The driver was pinned inside the vehicle when deputies arrived and noticed a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train approaching at about 35 mph.
Deputy John Scaglione is credited with pulling the driver through the front windshield. Sheriff’s Lt. Brad Hoch described the deputy’s actions as “very heroic” and said he “didn’t think twice about what he was doing.”
The unidentified 35-year-old driver was taken to a Wichita hospital with shoulder injuries, cuts and scrapes. Authorities are investigating why the truck rolled over.