Train/Car Collision Averted: Cop Gets SUV out of Train's Path

A Norwalk driver escaped being hit by an approaching train Wednesday when a Norwalk police officer got cars to move so an SUV could get out of the train’s path at a railroad crossing.

Movies typically show catastrophies averted with one second to spare. In this case, a witness shot a video showing the SUV moving out of the way just ahead of the train — with two seconds to spare.

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Norwalk Police gave this account:

The incident occurred at 12:24 p.m., Wednesday at the railroad crossing on Cross Street, near its intersection with Wilton Avenue. The railroad crossing arms had come down and were flashing.

Officer Niel Robertson had just finished investigating a motor vehicle accident on Cross Street when he saw a blue SUV stopped for traffic on the westbound-traffic lanes but within the crossing and dangerously close to the tracks. (There was a lot of traffic in the city at that time because an accident on Interstate 95 in Norwalk had shut down the highway.)

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Robertson — who could see train lights in the nearby Wall Street train tunnel — jumped out of his patrol car in the eastbound traffic lane and rushed to the endangered SUV.

There was no time for it to back up across the tracks or otherwise get out of the way, and Robertson could see the lights of the approaching train through the nearby Wall Street tunnel.

So Robertson got the drivers of cars stopped in front of it to move forward, giving the SUV driver to then get out of the way of the approaching train.

Someone in a car on the other side of the tracks shot the a video (Caution, the video contains some foul language at one point) which shows line of the cars moving forward, then the SUV — stopped just past the tracks but very close to them — getting out of the way, then the train zipping through the railroad crossing. Looking under the passing train, viewers can see the the officer’s feet walking between the cars and back to his patrol car, where he’s standing at the end of the video.

“Had Officer Robertson not been there and taken swift action, the incident would have likely ended tragically,” Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik said in a statement released by the Police Department.

A witness, identifid by Norwalk police as “Simon K.,” wrote an email to Kulhawik, saying:

“One of your officers deserves praise as he saved a lady from being hit by a train. The woman in a blue SUV stopped on top of the tracks in front of the Cablevision building due to heavy traffic ahead.

Very shortly after her halt on the tracks, the lights and bells starting going off and the gate comes down for the approaching train. Lucky for her, one of your officers saw this unfolding and quickly jumped out of his car and ran to the cars in front of the woman to have them move up. He managed to save the day with about 2 seconds to spare.”

Specifically, see seconds 3 to 5 of the video.