Dick Durbin: “I would like to take a moment to share a story with Members of the Senate and those following us this evening. It is an…”

“I would like to take a moment to share a story with Members of the Senate and those following us this evening. It is an amazing story of the selfless courage of a young Illinois mother who many are calling--with good reason--a guardian angel. Ashley Aldridge of Auburn, IL, was home making lunch for two little babies last Tuesday. She heard someone outside crying for help. She looked out her kitchen window and saw an elderly man in a wheelchair on the railroad tracks near her mobile home. He was calling for help. Without a moment's hesitation Ashley asked a neighbor to stay with her kids and she ran toward the man in distress. She saw the railroad guard arms coming down and heard the oncoming train. When she reached the man in the wheelchair, Earl Moorman, Ashley discovered that the wheel of his chair was lodged in the tracks. There was no moving it. So Ashley tried to pick up Mr. Moorman. Now, Mr. Moorman is 75 years old and he weighs about 200 pounds. Ashley could not move him. She tried again. With an Amtrak train barreling down the tracks at 81 miles an hour, Ashley Aldridge somehow, some way found the strength to lift Earl Moorman up and out of his trapped wheelchair. Not 5 seconds after she dragged him off the railroad track, the train hit the wheelchair and smashed it into bits. When the last car on the Amtrak train passed, Ashley looked up and saw a police car on the other side of the tracks. Someone had heard Mr. Moorman and called 911.…”