An Arizona woman whose SUV was rear-ended — pushing it into the path of an oncoming freight train — was pulled to safety just seconds before the locomotive rammed her vehicle Saturday, stunning security video shows.
The footage shows the SUV the woman is traveling in stop in front of a railway crossing in Mesa just before the warning arms descend, indicating a train is approaching. But a red pickup truck then rear-ends the SUV, shoving the vehicle onto the tracks.
The person behind the wheel of the pickup and drivers of several other nearby vehicles are seen rushing to the woman’s aid as the train bears down.
“The train was getting closer and closer and I’m here looking at the train, looking at her, it’s like ‘Oh my gosh she’s gonna get hit, she’s gonna get hit,’” Gloria Carcia, a driver who helped the woman, told KNXV-TV.
But the drivers managed to pull the unidentified woman from the SUV mere seconds before the Union Pacific Train, which appeared to have slowed down as it approached the crossing, collided with the vehicle.
No one was injured in the collision, the Mesa Fire and Medical Department said.
Mesa police Detective Jason Flam told KTVK-TVthat the damages were minimal compared to what could’ve happened if the quick-thinking drivers didn’t help the woman.
But Carcia downplayed her heroics, telling KNXV that she was just in the right place at the right time.
“I’m just glad that lady is OK,” she said. “And she keeps telling me, ‘You saved my life,’ and I really don’t feel I did. But she says I did, and I just thank God I was at the right place at the right time.”