NY woman, 81, rescued just before train hits car

CAMERON, N.Y. (AP) — A New York woman says she rescued a disoriented 81-year-old woman from her car just moments before it was smashed by a freight train.

Laurie Eldridge tells The Leader of Corning she was working on her flower bed Monday evening when she spotted a car driving on the tracks near her home in Cameron, 70 miles south of Rochester.

Eldridge says she ran to the car when it got stuck. She says she pulled the elderly woman out when she refused to leave the car as the train bore down on them.

She says she dragged the woman away just before a Norfolk Southern train going about 40 mph broadsided the car.

State police say the driver thought she was headed to a local mall.