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Video shows police officer saving man in wheelchair from oncoming train

Click to play video: 'Police officer saves man in wheelchair from oncoming train in California'
Police officer saves man in wheelchair from oncoming train in California
WATCH: A police officer saved a man in a wheelchair who was stuck on a set of train tracks just seconds before the train came through in Lodi, California, on August 12 – Aug 13, 2020

WARNING: The above video contains content that some may find disturbing. Please watch at your own discretion.

A California police officer stepped in front of a speeding train to rescue a man in a wheelchair who was seconds away from death, in dramatic bodycam video captured on Thursday.

The footage shows Lodi Police officer Erica Urrea scrambling out of her patrol car, dashing onto the tracks and then hauling the man out of harm’s way, right before the train crashed into his motorized wheelchair.

The incident happened on Thursday morning in Lodi at a rail crossing.

It’s unclear why the man, 66, was on the tracks. Several items were hanging off the motorized wheelchair and the man appeared to be wearing heavy clothing.

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The video shows he had a cane in one hand and that the wheels of the chair appeared to be trapped between the rail tracks.

A man is shown sitting on the railway tracks in Lodi, Calif., on Aug. 12, 2020. Lodi Police Department

The 45-second video shows Officer Urrea arriving at the scene and immediately reporting the incident to her dispatcher, just as the train crossing bells start to ring.

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“Got a male stuck on the tracks,” Urrea says as she runs toward the man. “Gonna try to get him out.”

She steps onto the tracks and appears to quickly check the chair before addressing the man.

“Can you get up?” she says, while the train horn screams at them from behind her. She quickly grabs him under the arm and shouts: “Get up, get up, get up!”

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Officer Urrea hauls the man out of the chair and pulls him a few inches clear of the tracks, just as the train barrels past at high speed. It hits the chair but misses the man by inches.

Urrea stumbles across the gravel, then turns back to see the man curled up and prone as the train rattles past.

“I need an ambulance, now!” she shouts into her radio.

The unidentified man suffered a leg injury and was treated at a local hospital later that day, the Lodi Police Department wrote on YouTube.

“Officer Urrea risked her own life to save another and her actions prevented a tragedy today,” the statement said.

“We are extremely proud of Officer Erica Urrea and her heroism.”

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