Image: California cop pulls man to safety from car on railroad tracks (Screen capture)
On Monday, two San Mateo County sheriff's deputies named Lance Whitted and Erik Rueppel pulled a man from his car just before a commuter train slammed into it, an incident that was captured on video.
The New York Daily News reported that the two officers were a block away from the intersection when -- at around 6:40 p.m. -- they heard the sound of a car accident.
Sheriff's department spokesman Salvador Zuno told reporters that the officers found a man in his 20s with his car trapped under the crossing gate. They pulled him from the car and when he stumbled and fell, they dragged him to safety just as Caltrain No. 385 barreled through the intersection, smashing into the pinned vehicle.
Moments later, the car was struck by a second train, Caltrain No. 287, which was traveling in the opposite direction.
The driver reportedly appeared to be intoxicated.
"Had they not acted, who knows what would have happened," said Zuno.
Watch video of the incident, embedded below:
The collision as viewed from another angle:
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