SMART conductor helps rescue boy from cliff

SMART Transportation Division member and conductor Ben Goar (Local 911), along with engineer Frederick Jarrell, was presented with an award for helping to save seven-year-old William Simondet’s life. The Canadian Pacific conductor and the engineer saw the boy on a steep Mississippi River bluff in St. Paul, Minn., while they were stopped to change crews.
Goar radioed to the St. Paul rail yard and told them to get police and firemen to their location.
Goar then went to yell up to Simondet to keep him distracted so he didn’t fall while Jarrell climbed up the bluff to the rock ledge that the boy stood on. Jarrell then carried the boy on his back to safety.
“I just did what most people would do,” Goar said. “It’s good to see him back with his family.”
Simondet is an autistic boy who had wandered away from home  May 11.
Fire Chief Tim Butler gave both men letters of commendation at a ceremony held June 10.
“Your coordinated and impromptu rescue efforts went above and beyond those expected of ordinary citizens,” Butler wrote. “Without your quick thinking, decisive action and selfless courage, the outcome for this child could have been severe.”

Photo courtesy of CP Rail