Seconds from tragedy: A Seattle police officer saves man from oncoming freight train

SEATTLE — A man is alive after an officer risks his own life to pull him from the train tracks seconds before the freight train passes.

Around 9:16 p.m. on October 7, Seattle police answered calls about a man experiencing a mental health crisis near the Second Avenue exit and East Jackson Street.

When police arrived, they found the man sitting on a ledge above train tracks.

One officer started to talk to the man while another requested all trains be halted in the area before the man slipped and fell 25 feet to the tracks below.

The man was seriously hurt and was unable to move, police said.

Another officer on the lower platform immediately ran onto the tracks as the freight train got closer.

Without a second to spare, the officer placed himself at risk to drag the man away from the track just as the train blew through the area.

The 57-year-old man suffered many fractures from the fall and was taken to Harborview Medical Center.

Seattle Fire took the man to the hospital in critical condition.

See the full video below.

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