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Bodycam video shows rookie cop saving man from oncoming train

Posted at 10:35 AM, Jul 25, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-25 10:35:25-04

PERTH AMBOY, N.J. — Perth Amboy Officer Kyle Savoia has only been on the force for seven months, but he says a rescue he made last week was the most intense response call of his career.

Heidi Burke, a Perth Amboy resident, was on the platform on her way to work last Thursday morning and saw the whole thing go down.

“He started running toward the train, the train was not slowing down at all. He was just waving his arms, yelling for it to stop. You heard like, screeching, and trying to brake, and you saw, literally, like a real-life hero," Burke told WPIX. "He just jumped in front of the train. I saw the red shirt, and a body attached to it go flying to one side, and the cop going to the other. And the train actually pulled in between them.”

The man can be heard on body camera video talking to Officer Savoia.

“Where’d you come from?! Thank you," he said. "Oh my God, thank you so much!!”

Officer Kyle Savoia, a 22-year-old rookie, has been on the job for only seven months.

“I was very nervous that the train wasn't going to stop,” Savoia said.

The unidentified man – who eyewitnesses say laid down on the tracks minutes earlier – was later taken to an area hospital for evaluation.

“He seemed scared, nervous," Savoia said. "He didn't really know where he was."

Donna Savoia says her late husband, a 28-year Perth Amboy P.D. veteran, and Kyle’s grandfather, a 25-year department vet both would have been proud.

“It has me very emotional," she said about her son. "I watched the video. I was in shock, ya know. To see him do what he was hired to do, it made me very proud, to also be following in his father's and his grandfather’s footsteps."

Officer Savoia is thankful he was able to make a difference.

“The job means everything. You come out here to make a difference in everybody’s life. No matter what – saving them, helping them. Helping them cross the street," he said. "It just makes you feel warm in the heart and good just to help somebody. And even to save somebody’s life – it’s even better.”