Off-duty Stuart police officer helps save 90-year-old veteran whose car was on train tracks

STUART — Arnold Marks' car wheels spun as he tried to get his vehicle off the train tracks near Confusion Corner.

A train was approaching.

He said he heard people shouting at him to get out of the car.

"It was an understatement that I was nervous," said Marks, 90.

Then, out of nowhere it seemed, someone swooped in, picked him up and took him off the tracks.

And about 100 yards away, the train stopped.

An alert train conductor saw the lights from Marks' car and brought the train to a halt.

Marks, an Army veteran from Port St. Lucie, said Monday he had driven through Confusion Corner several times before and he meant to make a right turn, but ended up on the tracks instead.

Confusion Corner consists of several roads — Dixie Highway, State Road A1A, Southeast and Southwest Ocean boulevards, South Colorado Avenue and Southwest Flagler Avenue — joined near a roundabout in down Stuart and near the train tracks.

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"I kept thinking what a dummy," Marks said, reflecting back to Saturday when he got stuck on the tracks. He was driving home from West Palm Beach, having just returned from a veterans trip to Washington, D.C.

"I was going maybe 5 miles (per hour) when I was making that turn," he said. "I couldn't go forward, I couldn't go backwards. I was just stuck."

Enter off-duty Stuart police Officer David Jacobson, who was just down the street when he got a call about a car stuck on the train tracks.

Within a few minutes, Jacobson had Marks in a "bear hug" pulling him out of his car and off the tracks, Jacobson said.

"I joke saying I almost saved the guy's life," he said. "You gotta make a decision; you just gotta go."

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Jacobson said after reflecting back on that night it was hard to remember the timeline for anything because "everything happened so fast and slow at the same time."

He said he remembers receiving the call about a car on the tracks and "being right there."

"When I pulled him out, the train was still coming toward us," he said.

He said Marks' car was 15 feet away from the tracks.

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Marks said that after he was safe, Stuart police officers followed him home to make sure he was OK, and offered to pay for his car to be towed.

Marks served from 1953 to 1955 in the Korean War, and had just returned from a day in Washington D.C. with Honor Flight, a nonprofit program that pairs veterans with guardians to visit war memorials for free as a way of thanking veterans for their service.

"It was worth waiting six months to be finally called (to take part in Honor Flight)," Marks said. "If I could, I would do it again."

At 2:30 a.m. Saturday, Marks went to Palm Beach International Airport with his guardian. They flew with other veterans and guardians to Washington.

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One of Marks' favorite parts of the day was speaking to people in Washington and hearing thanks from strangers for his service in Korea.

"It was such a memorable day, and it moved me to tears," Marks said. "I'll never forget it for as long as I live."

They returned to the West Palm Beach airport the same day. Marks said he was exhausted. He told his wife he'd be home in Port St. Lucie by 10:30 p.m.

"My wife was worried because it was taking so long," he said.

Despite the scare with the train, Marks said he still had a "moving day."

"My wife said I could have been killed," Marks said. "It was a long and trying day."

He said he called his guardian from the Honor Flight program when he got home to tell him what happened.

"He was in shock," Marks said.