Video: Deputy pulls driver out of way of oncoming train

Dramatic video shows a Northern California deputy performing a harrowing rescue as he dragged a driver to safety just before his car was hit by an oncoming train.

No one was seriously hurt during the Monday rescue.

Drivers and witnesses near the scene filmed the brief incident involving two San Mateo County sheriff’s deputies.

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Video posted on YouTube shows a car on the tracks on Mary Avenue in Sunnyvale just after 6:30 p.m. The quick-thinking deputy appeared to be running with the driver, who then tumbled to the ground just steps away from the tracks.

As the commuter Caltrain quickly approached the crossing, the deputy dragged the driver away from the tracks. Seconds later, the train barreled through the crossing and smashed the man’s vehicle.

Deputies Lance Whitted and his partner Erik Rueppel are now being called heroes.

The pair noticed the car on the tracks that evening and moved into action. As Rueppel tried to flag down the train, Whitted pulled the man to safety.

“If it had not been for the deputies being at the right place at the right time, the driver would have been significantly injured,” Det. Salvador Zuno told reporters.

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