Heart-pounding video shows police officers in Seattle, Washington, saving a man in the nick of time on October 7.
When officers responded to a mental health crisis call involving a 57-year-old man who was perched high over train tracks near the 2nd Avenue exit and East Jackson Street, they knew time was of the essence, KING 5 reported Wednesday.
The situation became even more tense because although officials had requested all inbound trains be stopped until the issue was resolved, one train was already inbound and apparently unable to halt.
Body camera footage taken at the scene shows officers speaking to the man. One of them tells him, “I wanna help you and I need you to hear me when I say that.” Seconds later, the man fell about 25 feet onto the rocks below. According to police, he suffered serious injuries and was not able to move away from the tracks.
However, officers on the lower platform ran over the tracks to save him. In the video clip, a train can be heard as it approaches the scene.
“Get ready to pull him,” one of the officers told another as he risked his life to grab hold of the man and drag him to safety. In that moment, the train passes by, narrowly missing the man.
Police said the man suffered multiple fractures and was transported to Harborview Medical Center where he was listed in critical condition.
“Due to the rescue efforts by first responders, the man survived,” the Seattle Police Department said.
A similar instance happened in November 2022 when two New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers and a good Samaritan saved a person’s life on Thanksgiving Day, Breitbart News reported at the time.
The officers were patrolling the subway platform at the 116th Street station when they heard a commotion on the opposite platform. The officers ran up the stairs to the street to cross to the other platform where a train was coming in two minutes.
They found a man laying on the tracks, and another person at the scene had rushed over to help the man stand up. The officers jumped down onto the tracks to help the man and were eventually able to lift him onto the platform:
“Our daily thing is to help people. We don’t care what if we have to put ourselves on the line. That’s why we do, that’s why we take this job,” one of the officers said following the rescue.
