MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A Memphis Police car was struck by a train late Wednesday night while officers searched for a prowler at a rail yard in the Castalia Heights neighborhood.

According to the Memphis Police Department (MPD), officers responded just after 10:15 p.m. to a prowler call at 1755 Airways, where they arrived to find several people running away from rail carts.

One MPD officer was told that a man was running toward him, prompting him to stop his squad car on the railroad tracks at Castalia Street and East Person Avenue, police said.

Police said that the officer got out of his car and started running on the tracks to stop the suspect. That was when he heard a train blasting its horn. He looked back and saw the train “approaching pretty fast” toward his cruiser, police said.

The officer “then started running back to his squad car, trying to get to it before the train did,” police said.

It is unknown if anyone was hurt.