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Todd McHugh doesn't think he is a hero, but police say the California teenager probably saved a mother and her two young children from serious injury or death last month.
He pulled them out of their car, stuck on light-rail tracks in Folsom, California, about 90 seconds before a train smashed into it.
McHugh, 17, was northbound on his way to meet friends when the silver car in front of him turned off the road, went into a ditch and jolted(摇晃)to a stop on the tracks.
McHugh jumped out of his vehicle and went to help.The driver, a woman who police say had fallen asleep, was behind the wheel and dazed.Her two daughters aged 7 and 10, were in the back seat, buckled(扣住)in.
McHugh took the woman's hand and helped her from the car.She unbuckled the kids.
Another driver who had pulled over to help shouted that a train was coming, McHugh recalled.
Police said the other man ran along the tracks and tried to wave down the train.It was dark and there was a bend in the tracks.The train operator probably never saw him.
McHugh said the driver applied the brakes, but the train was still going fast when it came up on them.
The woman, her daughters and McHugh took shelter behind his truck as the train smashed into their car, dragging it down the tracks, the teenager said.
The woman's car was destroyed.Officials said the train was damaged.But none of the crew and four passengers were injured.
Police said the outcome could have been far worse: “Had she sat there for another minute or two, she and her daughters could have been in that vehicle when the train struck it, and they could have been severely injured or killed.”
McHugh said he “didn't do anything anyone else wouldn't have done.”
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