Woman stuck on Metra tracks rescued before crash

A man who rescued an elderly woman from a car stuck on railway tracks in southwest suburban Chicago says he looked up to see an oncoming Metra commuter train bearing down on them.

Ed Suarez of Western Springs ran from his own car when he saw the woman's vehicle turn onto the tracks and continue to drive. She told him she could not walk, so he grabbed her arm, threw it over his neck and carried her to safety.

"Heck yeah, I was scared," Suarez told the Chicago Sun-Times.

As he and another passer-by dragged the woman to safety, a train headed from Chicago to Aurora struck the vehicle's door.

The rescue took place Monday afternoon in Western Springs.

The woman was taken to a hospital in La Grange and later released.

Suarez jumped from his own car and chased after the woman's vehicle until it stopped further down the tracks.

"She opened the door and I said, 'We gotta go, we gotta go' because I could see the light of the train coming toward us," Suarez told the Sun-Times. "I grabbed her arm, I put it over my neck and I dragged her out of the car."

When police arrived, several officers used their bodies to shield the woman from any debris that might result from the impact, but all were unhurt, Suarez said.

"It was unbelievable," he said.