Policeman Rescues Toddler From Car Dangling Over A Tunnel

A policeman saved a toddler from a car dangling over a tunnel in North Carolina, with photos showing what could have been a tragic accident.

A car that veered off a road on Wednesday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was suspended over a pedestrian tunnel that hundreds of Richard J. Reynolds High School students typically use, had the incident not taken place early in the morning.

"Thank God it happened at 7 o’clock in the morning," Diana Kelly, the school's financial secretary told ABC News. Kelly said many of the school's 1,800 students use the pedestrian passageway to walk from the school's bus lot to the main building starting around 8:20 a.m., to prevent them from crossing the street at ground level. School starts at 8:50 a.m., she said. 

The driver, 28, was able to get out of the still-running car. But in the vehicle was his 2-year-old daughter, whose name has not been released.

"The vehicle was partially suspended in the air but the transmission was still engaged, which made the vehicle’s position very unstable," the police report stated. "The driver was able to escape from the vehicle but the 2-year-old child was still inside of the unstable and severely damaged vehicle."

A Winston-Salem police officer came to the toddler's rescue. The child was not injured and was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure, the police report stated.

Officer Travis McFadden, who works for the Winston-Salem Police Department and is assigned as a school resource officer to Kingswood School, happened to be driving by when he saw the crash, Sgt. Mark Griffin told ABC News.

The front bumper and back bumper were on the concrete tunnel walls, Griffin said, and the car was suspended about 10 feet above the walkway.