The train tracks that run through the center of Leetonia don't stay quiet for very long.
"Probably every ten or twenty minutes we get a train that comes through here," said Police Chief John Soldano. "So it's a very busy train line."
That's what had Sgt. Rick Datillio so nervous when he came across a car stuck on the tracks Sunday night. Soldano said Datillio took quick action when he came across the car, which had a woman still inside.
"He immediately stopped the patrol car, got out and started yelling at her to get out of the car," said Soldano. "He also called dispatch and had my dispatch contact Norfolk Southern to see if we could get all trains stopped until we could get the car off of the tracks."
The call to stop trains was too late, as one was bearing down on the crossing. It took some convincing for 64-year-old Mary Davis, of Youngstown, to exit her car and leave it on the tracks. But Datillio got Davis out of her Chevy Cavalier in the knick of time.
"They went over to a safe area," said Soldano. "Then the train came and rear-ended the vehicle and pretty much totaled the vehicle out."
Davis told officers that it was a GPS system that told her to turn right. However, officers said it's possible that it meant for her to turn on to Front Street, which is just past the tracks.
There isn't much left of Davis's car. But Soldano said things could have been much worse.
"If it wasn't for Sergeant Datillio's fast actions in getting her out of that vehicle, we could have really had a tragic situation last night," he said.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol is handling the investigation.
