An off-duty cop in California has been hailed a hero after he risked his life to save a child from a car stuck on train tracks.
Cell phone footage showed San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Castaneda running in front of a moving train to rescue the child in Redlands.
Castaneda was on his way home from work and found himself stuck behind a SUV white car at a railroad crossing. However, panic began setting in when the gate started closing and the train was steadily approaching.
‘It started a process really quick in my head what was going on, especially when I seen that car try to maneuver out of the way and ended up getting stuck in the gravel,’ he told KTLV.
A mother and her two children were rescued by an off-duty deputy from their car that became stuck on a railroad crossing as a train rapidly approached
Deputy Michael Castaneda of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department ran in front of the moving train to rescue one of the children while their mother grabbed the other child and ran from harm
He described that the driver of the car then got out and, instead of fleeing, went to the back of the car.
‘At that moment, it dawned on me really quick that there’s probably a kid back there or another passenger in the vehicle, and that train was getting really close,’ he said.
Castaneda recalled that the mother put one child on the ground and climbed back into the car for the second child, while the train was getting closer.
‘As soon as she put that child down, I heard the horn, and to me, that was the start of a race. I just started running to get that kid out of there,’ he said.
‘Time slowed down, but it was seconds,’ he added.
The video then showed Castaneda picking up the child on the ground and running, while the mother ran in the opposite direction cradling her other child.
‘As soon as she put that child down, I heard the horn, and to me, that was the start of a race. I just started running to get that kid out of there,’ Castaneda said
He told the outlet that it was ‘just the perfect timing for me to be somewhere’, and as a former Marine had no doubt about what he needed to do.
‘What I do for my job, what I’ve done in the past, is just to help people,’ he said.
While grateful he was in the right place at the right time, Castaneda warns that this is an important reminder for people to take care when crossing railroad tracks.
He warned: ‘When there’s no room on the other side of the tracks, don’t start proceeding over the tracks.’
The deputy was later honored with the Meritorious Valor Award for saving the child, and he was described by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department as a ‘true example of courage and dedication to our community.’
