Body camera video shows Los Angeles police officers pulling a bloody pilot from a small plane that crashed and came to rest on railroad tracks in Pacoima on Sunday — just seconds before an oncoming train obliterated the Cessna 172, the Associated Press reported.
“Foothill Division Officers displayed heroism and quick action by saving the life of a pilot who made an emergency landing on the railroad tracks at San Fernando Rd. and Osborne St., just before an oncoming train collided with the aircraft,” the LAPD said in a tweet.
The harrowing incident occurred just blocks away from the LAPD’s Foothill station on Osborne Street near the Whiteman Airport, KABC-TV reported. The AP said officers were on the scene “almost immediately.”
The plane lost power and crashed on the tracks, according to the LAPD Valley Bureau. The crash occurred around 2:10 p.m. just after takeoff from the airport, the AP reported, citing the Federal Aviation Administration.
The pilot — who was the sole occupant — was taken to a trauma center by paramedics, was treated for cuts and bruises, and was in stable condition, KCBS-TV reported.
Here’s video showing another angle of the Metrolink train smashing into the single-engine plane. At least one piece of plane debris flies dangerously close to the individual recording the video:
No one on the ground was injured, KNBC-TV reported.
A KCBS video report identified the officers who rescued the pilot as Damien Castro, Christopher Aboyte, Robert Sherock, and Sgt. Joseph Cavestany.
The station said Cavestany saw the plane going down, was one of the first officers on the scene, and tried to get Metrolink to stop rail service: “I had requested Metrolink to cease all train activity, but apparently that didn’t happen,” he told KCBS.
“I’m grateful to be alive,” Officer Sherock told KCBS. “I’m grateful that the pilot survived as well.” He also told the station in regard to his fellow rescuing officers that “without our teamwork, without all of us pitching in and having the same mindset — which I think any officer [in] the department would have felt the same way — [the pilot] might not have made it.”
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, KNBC said, citing an FAA statement.
(H/T: The Daily Wire)