Car Plunges Off Bridge, Driver Saved By Atlanta Police Officer

ATLANTA, GA — A quick-thinking Atlanta Police officer used his patrol vehicle as a battering ram to get through a locked gate to an injured man who had driven his car over a bridge early Saturday morning, police said.

Officer Jimmy Cenescar rescued the injured and unconscious driver whose car had landed dangerously close to railroad tracks below the overpass, authorities said.

Around 1 a.m., police were called to the overpass near the intersection of Marietta Road and Thomas Street near the rail yards in northwest Atlanta.

Cenescar arrived to find that the driver, 32-year-old Kenneth William, had somehow crashed his car off the road and over the bridge, falling nearly 50 feet below.

Frantic witnesses flagged him down as he approached, the officer said.

“I knew I had to take action quickly to get that driver out of the vehicle because I knew under that bridge was a train track,” Cenescar said. “I notified my supervisor that the only way to get to the driver was to break through the gate.”

When the supervisor granted permission, Cenescar had to ram the locked and chained CSX REDI Center gate three times to get through.

William was eventually extracted from the car and taken to a nearby hospital in serious condition with a broken arm, a concussion, cuts to the side of his face and internal bleeding to his right eye, police said.

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