NYPD officers, good Samaritan save man who fell onto subway tracks from oncoming train
NEW YORK - A pair of NYPD officers and a good Samaritan are being hailed as heroes for rescuing a man who accidentally fell onto the subway tracks in Manhattan on Thanksgiving.
"The heroics of NY’s Finest always amazes me," Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in a tweet on Friday. "…the courage is second nature. Join me in saluting these great cops!"
According to authorities, Officers Victor and Bokth of the 25th Precinct were conducting a transit patrol at the East 116th Street and Lexington Avenue subway station in East Harlem.
While they were on the southbound platform, officers were alerted that a man had fella onto the tracks on the northbound side of the station.
Video footage from the body camera of one of the officers shows them from one side of the station, out across the street and back into the northbound side of the station.
With the assistance of a good Samaritan who had already gotten onto the tracks to help the stricken man, the officers jumped down to the track roadway and got the man off the tracks and onto the platform, just seconds before an incoming northbound 6 train entered the station.
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An additional officer, identified as Officer Gregorek, was able to use his prior medical training to render aid to the man while awaiting the response of medical personnel.
The victim, a 40-year-old man, was taken to Mount Sinai Morningside in stable condition with minor-injuries to his right hand and back.
"The joint commitment by Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams to have additional NYPD officers patrol in subway stations and on trains not only helps riders feel safer, but in this case enabled brave officers and a good Samaritan - in the finest tradition of New Yorkers helping each other - to save a life," MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said in a statement.