Video shows Seattle police pull injured man from tracks just seconds ahead of oncoming train

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Dramatic video shows police in Seattle talking a man off a ledge over the city's train tracks — then rescuing him from an oncoming train. 

The 57-year-old man, who has not been identified, was "experiencing (a) mental health crisis" and sitting on a ledge high above train tracks near Seattle's 2nd Avenue Exit and East Jackson Street at around 9:15 p.m. on Oct. 7, the Seattle Police Department said on social media. Dispatchers requested that inbound trains to the site be stopped as patrol officers responded to the scene. 

"I want to help you, and I need you to hear me when I say that," a patrol officer can be heard telling the man in bodycam video shared by the department.

WATCH: Seattle police officers rescued a man from an oncoming train in Downtown Seattle last week. On October 7th, at 9:16 p.m., patrol officers responded to reports of a man experiencing mental health crisis sitting on a ledge high above the train tracks near 2nd Avenue Exit and East Jackson Street. Officers began speaking with him in hopes of getting him to back to safety. Police dispatch requested inbound trains to be stopped, yet a train was already inbound. The man slipped and fell approximately 25 feet onto the rocks below and suffered serious injuries and was unable to move. Policemen on the lower platform ran across the tracks to rescue the man while a train approached them at high speeds. An officer dragged the man to safety, risking his life, with only seconds to spare. The 57-year-old male sustained multiple fractures. He was treated by the Seattle Fire Department and transported to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition. Due to the rescue efforts by first responders, the man survived.

Posted by Seattle Police Department on Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Video shows the man then slipped from the platform, falling about 25 feet to land in rocks beside the train tracks — into the path of a freight train that had already been en route when the dispatcher request came through. The man "suffered serious injuries and was unable to move," police said. 

Multiple police officers on the lower platform ran across the tracks to rescue the man. One officer reached his side just before the train raced through, pulling him away from the tracks with just seconds to spare.

The man sustained multiple fractures, the department said. He was treated by the Seattle Fire Department and transported to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition. 

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