Team Member Comes to the Rescue after Car Accident
JULY 2024 – A typical Saturday afternoon at the ballpark became anything but for Chris Blackman, a trainmaster at Watco’s Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad (KO).
After watching his son play baseball, Blackman was leaving the parking lot when he noticed a one-car accident at a nearby intersection in Maize, Kansas. The car immediately started smoking.
And while the driver safely got out of the car, a passenger remained stuck inside. That’s when Blackman came to the rescue.
KO Senior Trainmaster Luke Lohrmeyer recounted what happened next. He said, “Chris found the passenger unable to move. The injury to her leg was significant – a compound fracture.”
Along with another good Samaritan, Blackman made a makeshift splint using a jacket. Together they stabilized the passenger’s injury and lifted her out of the car to safety, all in less than two minutes. Soon after that the car caught fire.
Lohrmeyer said, “Chris very likely saved the passenger from sustaining additional injuries while waiting for first responders to arrive.”