Just like that, with a train fast approaching, a family was saved from what could’ve been a tragic ending.
Georgia Mayor, Eddie Daniels, presently serving his second term, was called a hero this past weekend after coming to the rescue of a mother and her three children moments before their car was smashed by a train.
Daniels noticed a black SUV stuck on the tracks as he was en route to work early Saturday morning. According to WALB, the Vienna mayor observed what was reportedly a fast-approaching train heading in the direction of the SUV.
“I couldn’t let those babies sit there and get slaughtered by a train,” Mayor Daniels said.
The outlet reports that Daniels immediately took action, breaking the mom out of the car first. Daniels saw three children, ages one, three, and six years old, in the backseat of
the SUV and proceeded to rescue the younger two before trying to pull the oldest child out of the car. As he worked to get the child out, the train was ready for impact.“I got the two small ones out. At that time, I [saw] the train and the six-year-old, I was pulling her out and that’s when the train hit,” he said.
The Vienna mayor was able to recall the moment he was caught between the truck and the train, grateful he was still able to rescue all of the children. Daniels showed reporters the skid marks from where the truck landed after the train smashed into it.
“I’m out here just doing God’s work, that’s what we’re supposed to do,” he said.
“And they told me I was a hero I said I don’t feel like a hero, just feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to do, what the people elected me to do.”
Daniels reportedly left the scene with a broken ankle and injuries to the head that required eight stitches.
“Terrible scene but we was able to save some lives,” Daniels said.
According to 11Alive, the Vienna mayor said he would’ve never expected anything like the incident to happen in the South Central Georgia city of 4,000 residents.