Off-duty Ala. Medic Saves Motorist Struck by Train

May 19--ATHENS -- On a warm, sunny May morning, a train crashed into the driver's side of the 2013 Fiat that Marcia Adams was driving.

It occurred at a railroad crossing in the Thach community in Limestone County, 7 miles north of Athens. There is no bar at the crossing, and the 62-year-old was returning home from dropping off her son at work.

Several witnesses credit Lt. Tracy Thornton, a firefighter and paramedic with Decatur Fire and Rescue, with saving Adams' life on May 6.

"I did not know Tracy until that day," said Brian Cruit, who lives at Thach and Holt Road near the crossing. "But I do know that without him, Ms. Adams would not be with us today."

Andy Davis, who resides across the road from Cruit, said, "There are no ifs, ands or buts." He was first on the scene, just ahead of Cruit and his friend, Ralph McGuff.

"I heard the brakes on the train locking down, and a big boom," Davis said. "That's when I took off. Thornton is the one who saved Ms. Adams."

Thanking God

Recalling as much as she could from the event, Adams said she thanked God for sparing her.

"But I thank Mr. Thornton for his part in it," she said. "A man and woman rode with me in the ambulance to the helicopter. I think she and all those guys out there that day are heroes.

"I've been wanting to meet Mr. Thornton and shake his hand."

Thornton, who also lives in Thach, used an off day to take his son, Case, 4, fishing at his girlfriend's house in Anderson that morning.

"As we crossed the tracks, I saw a blue car sitting in the rocks off in the weeds beside the tracks," Thornton said. "I thought maybe some kids had driven onto the tracks and got stuck. I didn't see any damage to the passenger side of the car, the side I could see as I passed."

Thornton said after he traveled a short distance down Thach Road, he began to wonder if the train hit the car. He turned around. That instinct started the wheels turning that apparently gave Adams another chance at life. This is how the episode unfolded:

Helping her son

Adams' son, Jamie Adams, who drives an 18-wheeler on a regular route to Texas, had parked his car behind his mother's car at her house that morning.

She drove him in his Fiat to a truckstop nearby on Interstate 65 to get his truck and start another run.

She was returning home and approached the tracks.

"I didn't see the lights, I didn't hear the whistle, I didn't see the train," Marcia Adams said. "I don't remember the train hitting me. I don't remember anything. At some point, I recall people holding me down and cutting my clothes off to see if I had internal injuries, I guess."

When Thornton drove his pickup back to the scene with his son in the back seat, Davis stood near the road speaking on a cellphone.

"Y'all need any help?" Thornton asked. "Yes, by all means. If you know anything, we need the help," Davis said.

Thornton walked to the car and saw a woman walking around, holding a little dog and petting it.

"Then I saw the woman sitting on the ground, leaning against the car," he said. "Her head was blue, her hands were blue and she was motionless. I told the woman with the dog, 'She's dead.' But I knew I had to check for a pulse."

Thrown from car

Adams was on the ground because the impact of the train had broken the latch on the door, and she had tumbled out.

"When I pulled her twisted clothing back from her neck to check her pulse, I noticed the shoulder strap was around her neck," he said. "I borrowed a pocketknife from one of the guys and cut the seat belt and the lap belt off."

Thornton, 42, said Adams had "a very slow, weak pulse," but attempted to take a breath when he cut the seat belt.

"I didn't think she was going to make it, but I ran back to the truck and got my bag with the bag valve mask," he said. "In my opinion, in another 30 seconds to a minute, she would have been dead. She had been like that for several minutes."

He returned and asked the men at the scene to take her away from the car to a more level spot.

"Tracy asked for one of us to dial a cellphone," Cruit said. "He told someone (the ambulance dispatcher) the situation he had. I began squeezing the bag while Thornton spoke on the cellphone."

Responders arrived from the Oak Grove and Ardmore volunteer fire departments with a backboard and C-spine equipment.

"We made sure she didn't have any obvious bleeding or puncture wounds," Thornton said. "We log-rolled her to her side, put the backboard underneath her, and rolled her back on top of the backboard. Then I started the IVs. We loaded her into the ambulance, and the crew drove her to the site to meet MedFlight."

Cruit said J.T. Eubanks, who lives 3 miles down the road, happened upon the wreck.

"I asked him to go back to Tracy's truck and stay with his son," Cruit said. "And Ralph went to his truck to get an umbrella to shield Ms. Adams from the sun."

At some point, Adams told rescuers to call her son.

"I was in Courtland, and I dropped my trailer there and drove on to the hospital," Jamie Adams said. Adams said his mother spent that Tuesday night in the hospital and was released the next evening.

"She was lucky," he said. "She was bruised up and skinned up, but she had no broken bones, no stitches. I was glad to meet Mr. Thornton, too, and to thank him for all that he did."

Even with all the excitement at the train crossing that day, Thornton resumed his journey, ending up at Whitney Word's pond with his son.

"It's a memorable day for more than one reason," Thornton said. "Case caught his first fish ever, and then he caught five more."

Ronnie Thomas can be reached at 256-340-2438 or rthomas@decaturdaily.com. Follow on Twitter @DD_RonnieThomas.

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