The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Offifficer hailed for heroic run toward burning train
Lilburn cop defified danger to help two conductors escape.
When a 170- car train slid from its track and burst into flames Sunday, a Lilburn police offifficer ran right toward the fifire to help those on board, offifficials said.
City leaders called Officer Almedin “AJ” Ajanovic a heroforhelpingtwoconductors escape as the fifire drew nearer to them. The police K- 9 handler and father of two said he was just doing his duty.
“I would have done it for anybody, andI’lldoit again,” he toldAJC. comonTuesday. “Any day, any time, on duty, offff duty. That’s who I am.”
Ajanovic was heading home from an offffffffffff- duty job about 1: 30 a. m. when he heardradiodispatches about the train derailment, LilburnpolicespokesmanCapt. Scott Bennett saidMonday. Authorities said a washout caused by storms and flflooding caused the CSX train to leave the tracks. Police later determined that 38 of the train’s cars derailed.
Ajanovic immediately
changed his course and headed to Main Street and Camp Creek Road to help respond to the incident, according to Bennett.
Three other offifficers were already in the area trying to fifififififigureoutwhere thederailed train was located, Ajanovic wrote in a police incident report.
Ajanovic walked next to the tracks in an attempt to fifind the train, he said. However, he quickly learned that the shifting gravel and steep climbwould not permit him to go very far.
“And I knew I had to get down there,” he said.
With only his flflashlight to guide him, Ajanovic began running on the tracks.
“I was told that the train trackswere like a bent roller coaster,” he said. “I didn’t really pay attention. I just knewI had to get there. And it’s not fun running on those railroad ties.”
As he ran, Ajanovic heard a loud explosion and saw huge flames leap into the air. A massive fifireball had erupted in the sky, Bennett said. Radio dispatches noted
that peoplewere screaming, he added.
About a half- mile down the track, Ajanovic saw the engine turned over on its side and resting in a body of water, the incident report said. Red liquid was flflowing fromthe train, covering the creek underneath, Ajanovic said. Less than200feetaway, a wall of fifire blazed behind a train car.
“Therewas a train car sittingupright andrightbehind it is just a gulf of flflames just going up in the air,” he said.
“Unknown what the liquid was or what dangers it posed, I knew I had to act quick,” hewrote in the incident report.
Ajanovic heard the voices of two distressed men and called out to them, offifficials said. He spottedamanstanding on the train and climbed atop the engine with him.
Theman, whowas one of the conductors, indicated that he and another man were the only people in the overturned car.
“The train was partially in water and there was a high voltage sign, and these men were in distress,” Ajanovic said. “I was like I have to get up there. There’s no going back because I have to save these guys.”
“Ignoring the heat from the fifire and a ‘ danger high voltage’ sign on the side of the train, SPO Ajanovic climbed on the wrecked rail carstohelpbothmendown,” Bennett said.
In his body camera footage, Ajanovic can be heard telling one of the conductors, “I got you. I got you, brother. Yeah, that was a huge explosion. So let’s get the hell out of here, man.”
Ajanovic led the conductorsaway fromthetrain, then checked tomake surenoone else on board had been left behind, the incident report said. Both conductors were taken toNorthsideGwinnett Hospital and are expected to be OK.
One of themtoldAjanovic therewerehazardousmaterials on the train, the incident report said. He and other offifficers worked to evacuate neighbors who lived within a half- mile of the incident.
They were allowed to return to their homes about 5: 30a. m. after crews brought the fire and hazmat situation under control, Gwinnett County offifficials previously said.
Ajanovic saidwithsomuch at stake, hedidnot have time to fear thepotential outcome of his actions on Sunday. But the day after the rescue, he became emotional.
“I thoughtabout itafter the fact, and honestly it didn’t hit me until yesterday,” he said. “What if I didn’t make it there in time and something hadhappenedto those two men?”
Lilburnoffifficialswerequick to praise the offifficer. In an email, Lilburn Mayor Tim Dunn said he is proud of the police department and“individuals like AJ Ajanovic who run toward danger to assist those in trouble.”
Lilburn City Councilman Emil Powella said: “We can be so proud of our offifficers and the selflfless attitude they bring to a most challenging job. Congrats toOffifficer AJ on his heroic actions. It’s great to live in Lilburn.”
The praise has not gone to his head. Ajanovic said the rescue was truly a team effffffffffffort and he is grateful for the “overwhelming” outpouring of support.
A prestigious private school in Buckhead failed to protect two former students who were sexually assaulted by another student on campus about three years ago, an Atlanta attorney said Tuesday.
The assailant, who was a juvenile at the time, was later convicted for the assaults at Pace Academy, attorney Tricia “CK” Hofflffler said during a virtual news conference. The victims have fifiled lawsuitsagainstPaceandvarious employees, including headmasters, deans and counselors, claiming the school failed to provide adequate supervision and keep students safe.
“You certainly don’t want to see them not being held accountable when they put in action a course that led to the devastation of young people,” Hofflffler said.
Pace, which has an enrollment of 1,115, is on fall break
this week. A spokeswoman for theWestPacesFerryRoad school was unavailable for comment, according to an email reply.
According to the lawsuits fifiled in Fulton County State Court, the assaults occurred during a six- month span in 2017 and 2018. Neither the victims, who are now college students, nor the assailant
— a former Pace football player — are named in the lawsuits. Both suits request a jury trial and unspecifified monetary compensation.
“Jane Doe 1” had been a Pace student since third grade andwas alsoanathlete there. In September 2017, a boy identifified as JW forcibly restrained, gropedandraped heroncampusduring school
hours, the lawsuit states. The female student reported the assault to a teacher.
In October 2017, JW attempted to sexually assault the girl again on campus by trying to place his hands under her shorts, the lawsuit states. Afterathirdattempted assault in November 2017, the victimreported the incidents to Pace administration, according to the suit.
The school began its own investigation and the girl’s mother contacted Atlanta police.
“JW, although suspended from Pace for a short time, was allowed to come back to Pace as a student,” the lawsuit states. “Due to Pace’s failure to protect plaintiff and her privacy regarding her complaint, plaintiffff ultimately withdrewfromPace, albeit themiddle of her sophomore year.”
The girl’s mother spoke with Channel 2 Action News in June 2018, but was not identified to protect her daughter’s privacy.
“I’mupset by the fact that they had a duty to her, and they failed her,” the girl’s mother said in the interview. “They failed her miserably.”
At the time of the interview, a school spokeswoman said JW, then 16, was no longer a student there.
“Pace Academy is cooperating with the Atlanta Police Department as they investigate,” thePacespokeswoman toldTheAtlanta Journal- Constitution at the time.
But by then, allegations involving JW and a second female studenthadsurfaced, according to a lawsuit fifiled on behalf of “Jane Doe 2”.
“In May 2018, JWsexually assaulted plaintiffffffff JaneDoe 2 by placing her into a chokehold and trying to insert his hands inher shorts,” the second lawsuit states.
The following month, Atlanta police charged JW in connection to both assaults, the lawsuit says. Because he was a juvenile at the time, the court records are sealed. Hofflffler saidJWwasconvicted at trial for sexually assaulting Jane Doe 1 and pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting Jane Doe 2. His sentences aren’t publicly available due to his age at the time.
“There will be no dispute that sexual misconduct occurredor that the children were harmed,” Hofflffler said in an emailed statement. “That the school chose to allowthe assailant to remain at the school after he was accused of sexual assault speaks to the vile nature of the administration and the Board’s decisions in these cases. Pace had notice and must be held accountable for endangering our clients and others.”