College football player saves passengers on runaway train car
By SDS Staff
Published:
Reuben Clarke (West Haven, CT) will never make a better play in his career than he made Wednesday night.
Clarke, a freshman offensive lineman at the Division 3 school Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was one of many passengers traveling on Amtrak when their car — and another one — detached from the rest of the train, per CBS6Albany.com, and, they were scared for their lives.
That’s when Clarke made the split decision to jump up and pull the hand brake on the runaway train. The train eventually slowed down and stopped, thanks to Clarke’s decision.
“The car from the back of the train was like leaving us and I saw sparks and stuff like that and a huge gust of wind so I just calmed myself down and I was like we have to stop the train and make sure everyone was fine,” Clarke said about his heroic act.
The cause of the separation is currently being investigated, but no doubt, Clarke’s good instincts made him a hero. One passenger even credited Clarke with saving their lives.
“He saved our lives tonight,” Helen Mark Crane told CNN. “Our car broke off from the rest of the train and was picking up speed. There was no Amtrak personnel in our car. Reuben calmly went into action and pulled the emergency brake at the front of the car. Thankful he was on the train with my son and I.”
Clarke has played in five games this season for the Engineers, and the team finished 9-1 during the regular season and has advanced to the second round of the 32-team NCAA playoffs.
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
