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 The heroics of Metro-North engineer Steven Smalls Jr., 33, a
married father of two, were described at a news conference held by
the National Transportation Safety Board three days after the
deadliest rail accident in the New York area in more than three
decades.
Six people died on Tuesday evening after the rush-hour train,
traveling from New York's Grand Central Terminal, struck a Mercedes
sports utility vehicle that became stuck on the wrong side of a
crossing gate in the Westchester suburb of Tarrytown.
After exiting the engineer's compartment moments after the crash,
Smalls helped five or six passengers escape the first train carriage
and then noticed a passenger who was unable to walk crawling toward
the door, said NTSB member Robert Sumwalt.
"He picked him up and held him in a fireman's pose," Sumwalt said.
 Smalls, an Air Force veteran, was interviewed on Thursday by federal
safety investigators who described his demeanor as very
professional, Sumwalt said.
"It goes without saying he's very traumatized," Sumwalt said at a
final press briefing a few miles away from the crash site in
Valhalla, New York.
Funerals for the SUV driver and one of the five train passengers
killed in the fiery crash were held on Friday as investigators
looked for clues about how the accident unfolded.
The grieving husband of Ellen Brody, who was behind the wheel of the
2011 Mercedes ML350, said she had been on her way to meet a new
client and did not know the area where the crash occurred.
The vehicle became stuck on the wrong side of a rail crossing gate
and was hit by the train that departed New York City during
Tuesday's evening rush hour.
"Somehow she wound up in a strange, unfamiliar place," Alan Brody
was quoted by the New York Times as saying during a eulogy for his
49-year-old wife, who worked in a jewelry store and was the mother
of their three daughters.
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He described his own thoughts when, in the past, he drove through
the upscale hamlet about 25 miles north of midtown Manhattan.
"I also remember thinking, 'Are you kidding? Who could imagine that
a major commuter railroad runs through this?'" he told mourners
gathered at Chabad of the Rivertowns in Dobbs Ferry, New York.
A funeral was held in the Westchester County town of Mount Kisco on
Friday for one of the train passengers, Eric Vandercar, who worked
at Mesirow Financial.
The train was traveling at 58 miles per hour when Smalls saw a
reflection on the tracks ahead, realized it was woman stuck in a
vehicle and engaged the emergency brake. Four seconds later the
train struck the SUV, moving at an estimated speed of 49 miles per
hour, the NTSB said.
As the train ground to a halt, the electrified third rail snapped
apart and twelve of the 39-foot sections skewered the first
carriage, reaching the ceiling. One of the sections passed through
and pierced the second carriage.
(Editing by Barbara Goldberg, Mohammad Zargham and Bernard Orr)
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