In what ended up being an intense scene over the weekend, Los Angeles Police Department officers pulled a pilot out of his crashed plane, just seconds before a train plowed through it.
The incident, which was caught on video by police body cameras as well as pedestrians, happened after a Cessna 172 plane made an emergency landing around 2 p.m. Sunday while departing the Whiteman Airport in Pacoima, the Associated Press reports. The train ended up hitting the plane around 2:15 p.m., per police footage timestamps, after officers arrived at the scene from LAPD’s Foothills Division station, near where the plane landed on the tracks.
“The plane had a failed takeoff and landed on the train tracks at a popular intersection,” said witness Luis Jimenez, who filmed a video of the incident. “Just seconds before impact police officers saved the pilot, and a piece of debris almost hit me.”
CBSN Los Angeles identified the four officers who dragged the pilot to safety as Damien Castro, Christopher Aboyte, Robert Sherock, and Sgt. Joseph Cavestany, who can be seen in the clip quickly pulling the bloody man from the crash site just before the plane is hit and debris goes flying. Los Angeles Fire Department officials told the AP that the pilot was the only person on board. He was transported for treatment in an unknown condition.
“Seeing what happened, I’m grateful to be alive. I’m grateful the pilot survived as well,” Sherock said.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident.
“Our people were there and showed their valor,” LAPD Chief Michel Moore wrote on Twitter. “I’m grateful for their work each day.”
