HAMMOND | A Highland teenager said he and a friend acted quickly to get themselves and his younger brother to safety after the car in which they were riding hit a stopped train last week in the 7500 block of a Cline Avenue service road.

Kyle James, 16, said his brother, Dillon James, 13, remains at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago where he was taken after the Oct. 30 incident.

Dillon James had to undergo surgery for abdominal injuries and likely will be in the hospital for several more weeks, he said.

"We all walked away from the car because we thought the car might have blown up ... I got help for my brother," Kyle James said.

He said he wants it known that he didn't leave the scene of the accident, as was earlier reported by police, but had ridden along in the ambulance which had taken him and the other two teens to the hospital.

Police Lt. Richard Hoyda said that information confirms what the investigating officer, who arrived at the scene after the ambulance left, had told him.

And that's why the police officer who investigated the accident apparently didn't get the teen's name.

"I don't dispute that. ... That would make perfect sense," Hoyda said of James' version of the incident.

Hoyda added, "He (Kyle James) didn't do anything wrong."

Both Kyle James and the 17-year-old driver, Jacob W. Hyslop, and Dillon James initially were transported to The Community Hospital in Munster.

James said both he and Hyslop sustained cuts and bruises. They were treated and released the same night.

"We're fine," he said.

James said the three teens were in Hammond around 9 p.m. and trying to return to their Highland homes when they started down the dark service road thinking it continued through.

"We didn't see a sign posted about 13 feet off the ground and we didn't know the road ended," he said

He said initially the 1993 Toyota Camry they were in first struck trees, where the road ends, then struck the parked train east of the trees.

The car, which also flew about 50 feet into the air, was so badly smashed from the impact that they had trouble getting out. The two older teens exited through broken windows, he said.

Once out, the two older teens helped Dillon James get out through his car door which they were able to open, Kyle James said

The two then ran back down the service road knocking on the door of a family who called for assistance, he said.

Both Kyle James and Hyslop attend Highland High School while his brother attends Highland Middle School.