Watch: Officer narrowly misses being hit by train

MOKENA, Ill. (FOX 13) - A Mokena, Illinois police officer considers himself lucky to be alive after a close encounter with a train.

Mokena Officer Peter Stanglewicz shared on social media dash camera video of his close call.

Driving behind a blue SUV, he nearly follows it across a set of train tracks before swerving sideways ahead of a coming train.

The train comes barreling past just seconds after.

In the video, the stop arm on the opposite side of the road can be seen lowering after the train passes. The police department did not say if there was a malfunction with the arm on Officer Stanglewicz's side of the road.

Stanglewicz says he was saving up a lifetime of luck for this moment.

FOX 13 News reported on this story from Tampa, Florida.