SUV Driver Survives 30-Foot Plunge Onto Metro-North Tracks

A young woman is lucky to be alive after her SUV crashed through a fence and plunged about 30 feet onto suburban New York train tracks. And 20-year-old Stephanie Cacho has a Good Samaritan to thank for saving her life.

Metro-North railroad spokesman Dan Brucker says the accident Monday night in Mount Vernon interrupted service for about 10,000 commuters.

Brucker says it's "astounding'' that Cacho survived. She was taken to a hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

Rohan Britton told 1010 WINS he saw "a lot of blood'' when he leaped onto the tracks and pulled Cacho out of the sunroof of her mangled vehicle, narrowly missing getting hit himself by an oncoming train.

Police said the Mount Vernon woman had swerved to avoid a bicyclist on the street above the tracks just before 8 p.m. yesterday.

Brucker said the SUV narrowly missed electrified rails. Had the truck hit one of the third rails, it would have erupted in flames, he said.

Witnesses said Cacho might have been speeding before she veered out of control, but authorities say she likely won't be ticketed, according to 1010 Wins. Cacho was only driving with a learner's permit, however, a minor offense that could warrant a summons.