Two officers operating a police helicopter are being credited with helping prevent a train from colliding with a car stuck on the tracks in Riverside, Calif.
Steve Quinn and Chris Tavaglione said they were patrolling the neighbourhood in a chopper when police received a call Saturday night reporting a vehicle had lost control and rolled over onto the train tracks.
The chopper crew noticed there was a three-kilometre long train headed towards the stuck vehicle.
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Flying at around 152 metres in the air, Tavaglione dropped the helicopter down to 30 metres over the tracks and caught the train engineer’s attention by waving a spotlight.
The engineer then saw the vehicle after Quinn and Tavaglione pointed the spotlight towards it and he was able to slow down and stop just 12 metres from the car.
According to police, the engineer said he would not have been able to stop had the flight crew not signalled him in time.
Police said the driver of the vehicle was uninjured but was found to have been intoxicated. He was arrested and charged with drunk driving.
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