Parents Of Engineer In Deadly Metro-North Crash Say Son Is A Hero

MEDFORD, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The parents of the engineer on the Metro-North train involved in the deadly crash and fire this week could not believe their son made it out alive.

As CBS2's Jennifer McLogan reported, the parents of engineer Steven Smalls Jr. were overwhelmed with emotion and pride that their son directed commuters to safety amid utter chaos in the Tuesday evening accident in Valhalla.

Smalls was out of the hospital as of Thursday, and left his Orange County home to meet with investigators. Despite the horrific outcome – six people were killed when the train slammed into a sport-utility vehicle on the tracks – Smalls was being hailed as a hero.

Commuters believe his actions may have saved lives when he instantly put the train into emergency mode, throwing every brake possible the second he saw Ellen Brody's SUV stopped on the tracks. Passengers said he also helped rescue the injured people before the inferno engulfed the first train car.

"He couldn't believe there was a car on the tracks. He did everything he was taught to try to stop the train, but there wasn't enough time. And he even hit the horn to warn her," said said Smalls' father, Steven Smalls Sr. "And he said she had enough time to move backwards or forwards. The car wouldn't move."

CBS2 has learned that engineer Smalls was filling in for another operator who had called in sick. The U.S. Air Force veteran, graduate of John Jay College, husband and father of two joined the Metropolitan Transportation Authority three years ago.

His parents said he always dreamed of being a train engineer, and said he is calm and poised under pressure.

"I just broke down; when I saw the conditions, I said, 'Oh my God, the people on that train, oh my God!' You know, just how did they survive that?" said Steven Smalls Jr.'s mother, Jeanette Smalls. "And just to know that Steven was, you know, taking passengers off and not once thinking of himself, just to get the people off the train."

The train plowed the Mercedes SUV 1,000 feet down the tracks. The Smalls family said their son, amid the chaos, was praying for everyone to survive.

They called him profoundly religious.

"I was telling him that, you know, thank God he was on that train, because God sent him on that train to do that -- to save those people -- so he was there at the right time. We eventually went to the hospital to make sure he's OK," said Steven Smalls Sr. "It is a miracle."

Jeanette Smalls called their son a "hero. I'm just proud of him, that he didn't think of himself. He thought of others first, and he just sprung into action."

Steven Smalls Jr.'s family said their son has few physical injuries, but is suffering emotionally – devastated by the loss of life.