A Seattle police officer risked his life to pull an injured man from train tracks just seconds before a train sped past, according to dramatic body camera footage released by the Seattle Police Department. The incident occurred on October 7, just after 9 p.m. local time, near the King Street Station in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of downtown Seattle.
The 57-year-old man, who was experiencing a mental health crisis, was initially spotted on the lower ledge of an overpass directly above the train tracks. As officers attempted to talk him off the ledge, a police dispatcher requested an all-stop of inbound trains. However, one train that was already inbound could not be stopped and continued to race toward the station. The man then slipped and fell approximately 25 feet onto the rocks below, suffering serious injuries and landing next to the inbound train tracks.
The body-camera footage shows officers racing to reach the man as the horn of an approaching train grew louder and its headlight grew brighter.
The man, whose name has not been released, suffered multiple fractures in the fall. He was treated at the scene by the Seattle Fire Department and taken to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition. Thanks to the rescue efforts by first responders, the man survived, according to a statement from the Seattle Police Department.