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| Reuben Clarke runs out with his RPI football team. From Reuben Clarke's Instagram account |
Reuben Clarke, a freshman offensive lineman for RPI, saved passengers on a runaway Amtrak train on Wednesday night, the night before Thanksgiving.
According to multiple news reports, two train cars which were added to an Adirondack train from Montreal to New York, separated shortly after departure from Rensselaer, New York. Only the swift action of Clarke, 18, prevented a disaster. Clarke, who was a passenger on one of the two separated cars, leaped forward and pulled the emergency brake,
"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 told CBS 6 News in Albany.
Amtrak said no injuries were reported, thanks in no small part to Clarke's heroics.
"He saved our lives tonight," fellow passenger 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."
Twitter user @manchuk posted: I'm on an #amtrak train going down to NYC for Thanksgiving. About ten minutes out of Albany, heard a pop smelled electrical burning and felt a rush of cold air. Turned around and looked back and saw the (rest) of the train is missing.
