Festival of Trees employee saves women stuck on train tracks

ATLANTA - At this time of the year, the Festival of Trees at the Georgia World Congress Center is always popular for families. One volunteer at the event, however, is getting high praise for his quick thinking that may have saved lives.

Rodney Daniel had just finished his shift working at the festival when he heard a group of women calling for help.

"I heard some girls yelling ‘We gotta get the car. We gotta get the car’ as I'm walking up the hill. I'm like, 'What's going on?' And they're like, ‘Our car is stuck on the train tracks,’" Daniel said. "I looked up and said ‘There’s a train coming. We've got to stop that train first.'"

The young women were visiting from out of town when they took a wrong turn and ended up on the tracks.

"My first concern was their safety. It was four girls pushing the car. They said they weren't from around here. GPS brought them that way, and they took a wrong turn," Daniel said. "So my main concern was for them getting of the tracks. That was my first priority."

With seconds to spare, Daniel worked quickly to get the attention of the train conductor.

"I got my cell phone, waved the light on the cell phone, waved down the conductor. He was able to see me and stop the train," he said.

Once the train was stopped, Daniel wedged a rock under one of the car's tires to get it off the tracks.

"The main driver just gave me a hug," he said. "She was like ‘Thank you so much. I don’t know how we wouldn't done this - getting the car unstuck like this.'"

Even though he saved the day, Daniel won't take too much credit.

"It's just God put me in the right place at the right time," he said. "I have a wife and a daughter. If something happened to them hopefully someone would be there to step in."