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Lawrence Esteban, 99, was allegedly involved in a serious train crash on Monday around 7:00 p.m. He was driving along West Atlantic Boulevard near Andrews Avenue in Pompano Beach when the crash occurred.
The Boca Raton resident remained inside his car after the crash, as he was injured and bleeding from both arms.
Shawn Williams, a physical therapist assistant at Broward Health North, had just finished work when he noticed a silver Nissan in bad shape, with cars swerving around it. The vehicle was positioned parallel to the railroad tracks, its front end badly damaged.
Shawn saw that someone was still inside and immediately sprang into action. He pulled Lawrence out of the passenger side as a bystander called 911. The Good Samaritan reassured Lawrence, telling him not to worry about the car; his health was the priority.
“He was talking to me, saying, ‘Don’t worry about the car, don’t worry about that. He said, ‘You first,’” Lawrence recalled.
Using his training, Williams pushed the driver’s seat back to give himself more room, then carefully helped move Lawrence’s legs out of the car.
“Finally, we got his legs out, moved him to the passenger side, got him to stand up, and the physical therapist in me just kicked in. I asked, ‘Could you stand?’ and he said, ‘Of course I can stand.’”
As they worked together, Shawn overheard paramedics from Pompano Beach Fire Rescue #103 mentioning they were transferring Lawrence as a level 1 trauma patient to Broward Health North.
“I overheard one of the paramedics say, ‘He’s going to North Broward,’ and I thought that was the right place for him to be.”
At the hospital, the trauma team noticed that Lawrence had a broken bone in his upper body. Given his age and heart condition, they decided it was best to let the bone heal on its own.
Lawrence was discharged on Wednesday, July 23. Before leaving, he and his daughter, Angel Larrinaga, took a moment to thank Shawn for his quick thinking and heroic actions, as well as the trauma team that cared for him.
Now, Lawrence looks forward to the next chapter of his life—he’s planning a trip to Spain.
