Dramatic video shows Seattle police talking to a man on a ledge above the city’s railroad tracks, then saving him from an oncoming train.
The 57-year-old man, who was not identified, was “suffering from (a) mental health crisis” and was sitting on a ledge above the train tracks near the 2nd Avenue exit of Seattle and East Jackson Street around 9:15 p.m. in October. 7, Seattle police said on social media. Dispatchers requested that trains entering the site be stopped while patrol officers responded to the scene.
“I want to help you, and I need you to hear me when I say this,” a patrol officer can be heard telling the man in body camera video shared by the department.
WATCH: Seattle police officers saved a man from an oncoming train in downtown Seattle last week. On October 7, at 9:16 p.m., patrol officers responded to reports of a man in a mental health crisis sitting on a ledge above the railroad tracks near the 2nd Avenue exit and from East Jackson Street. Officers began talking to him in hopes of getting him back to safety. Police dispatch called for incoming trains to be stopped, but one train was already en route. The man slipped and fell approximately 25 feet onto the rocks below and was seriously injured and unable to move. Police officers on the lower platform ran onto the tracks to save the man as a train approached them at high speed. A police officer dragged the man to safety, risking his life, with only seconds to spare. The 57-year-old suffered multiple fractures. He was treated by the Seattle Fire Department and transported to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition. Thanks to the rescue efforts of first responders, the man survived.
Posted by the Seattle Police Department on Tuesday, October 15, 2024
The video shows the man then sliding off the platform, falling about 25 feet to land on rocks next to the train tracks – into the path of a freight train that was already en route when the request from the dispatcher has arrived. The man “was seriously injured and could no longer move,” police said.
Several police officers on the lower platform crossed the railway tracks to save the man. An officer reached him just before the train sped past, pulling him away from the tracks with seconds to spare.
The man suffered multiple fractures, the department said. He was treated by the Seattle Fire Department and transported to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition.
Kerry Breen
Kerry Breen is editor-in-chief of CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University’s Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News’ TODAY Digital. She covers current affairs, breaking news and issues such as substance use.
