New York Cheers Subway Rescuer

Culture & Society Forum

New York Cheers Subway Rescuer

Commuter Saves Man From Oncoming Train

By Rick Hampson
USA Today

NEW YORK (Jan. 4) - A day after he jumped into the path of a subway train to save the life of a stranger, Wesley Autrey got a $5,000 reward, a day off and universal acclaim in a city where you supposedly don't speak to people you don't know, let alone rescue them. "I just tried to do the right thing," said the 50-year-old Harlem construction worker.

"It ain't about being a hero, it was just being there and helping the next person. That's all I did."

On Tuesday afternoon Autrey leaped down from a subway station platform after Cameron Hollopeter, 20, apparently suffered a seizure and fell between the tracks.

Autrey had to leave his two daughters, ages 4 and 6, on the platform. It was that, he said, or have the girls see a man run over by a subway train.

Down on the tracks, Autrey saw a train's headlights in the tunnel. He shoved the disoriented student into the only space where they had a chance to survive — the shallow, grimy drainage trough between the tracks.

The train passed over them, with about 2 inches' clearance. Autrey later showed reporters grease stains on his wool hat that he said came from the train's undercarriage.

On Wednesday Autrey got the day off from work at a Brooklyn construction site and visited the New York Film Academy, where Hollopeter is a student.

"We don't have a red carpet, but we gave him a red carpet reception," said Anita Tovich, one of Hollopeter's professors. Jerry Sherlock, director of the school, presented Autrey with a check for $5,000.

The school also promised Autrey's daughters scholarships to the school when they're older.

"Here and all over the world, people are struck by this unselfish, heroic act," Sherlock said. "With so much evil in the world, it gives everyone hope."

"You're one in a million," he told Autrey, "and this is your 15 minutes of fame."

The city's tabloids celebrated Autrey. "SUBWAY ANGEL'S DAREDEVIL LEAP" headlined the New York Post. The Daily News hailed the "SUBWAY SUPERMAN." Autrey is scheduled to be on network news programs this morning and CBS' Late Show with David Letterman tonight.

Autrey gave this account: He was in the station in upper Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon when Hollopeter, also waiting on the platform, seemed to collapse during a seizure. Autrey used a pen to get Hollopeter's tongue out of his throat. Hollopeter stood up, then staggered and fell between the tracks.

As the train neared, Autrey pinned Hollopeter in the trough by lying on top of him, face to face. But the student kept struggling. "Don't move!" Autrey said. "Or one of us is going to lose a leg."

Subway car brakes screeched. One car passed overhead, then a second. Then came silence, followed by the wailing from the platform of his daughters, who'd just seen their father run over.

"We're OK," Autrey yelled to bystanders on the platform. "I got two daughters up there. Let 'em know their father's OK!"

"Who are you?" asked Hollopeter.

"Someone who saved your life," replied Autrey.

They waited 20 minutes until technicians turned off power on the subway's high-voltage third rail and were helped out.

Hollopeter remained hospitalized Wednesday in stable condition, recovering from cuts and bruises.

A relative, Jeff Friedman, told reporters that although Hollopeter is quite talented, "even he couldn't write the screenplay any better."

Contributing: The Associated Press

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This story is just so cool.

I saw it yesterday and forgot to post it. So glad he's getting recognition. What a freakin' hero Just imagine the stones it takes to do that.

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I agree! I saw him on Anderson Cooper the other night. He kissed the father of the guy who fell. I am sure they are grateful to this guy. He risked his life for another person. A true hero indeed! Not many people would do that in this world.

Especially in New York. You figure not only would the dude be left for dead but he would have his wallet stolen.

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NYC, Trump, Disney reward "Subway Superman"

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New Yorker dubbed "Subway Superman" received the city's highest civic award on Thursday after pinning down a stricken stranger on subway tracks just enough to allow an oncoming train to run over the top of them.

Wesley Autrey, 50, jumped onto the subway tracks at a station in Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood on Tuesday to help Cameron Hollopeter, who had suffered a seizure and fallen.

Autrey held down Hollopeter's convulsing body in the track bed as the train passed just centimeters above them. Both were uninjured, but Hollopeter, 20, remains in hospital undergoing tests to discover what caused his seizure.

Autrey, whose knitted cap was brushed with grease and dirt from the train passing overhead, played down his daring act as he accepted the Bronze Medallion -- for exceptional citizenship and outstanding achievement -- from Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"You see somebody in distress, you help out," Autrey told a news conference, as he was flanked by his 4- and 6-year-old daughters, who had watched their father jump onto the subway tracks. "I was just in the right place at the right time."

While Bloomberg called Autrey a "true hero" and the New York Post newspaper dubbed him the "Subway Superman," the construction worker -- who went to work as normal after the incident -- said the real heroes were U.S. troops in Iraq.

Along with the civic award, Autrey was also given a year's worth of free rides on New York's subway and buses, then met with real-estate mogul Donald Trump, who gave him a $10,000 check, along with two other checks from undisclosed donors.

The Walt Disney Co. gave Autrey and his family a one-week fully paid trip to the Disney World theme park in Orlando, Fla, and tickets to the Broadway smash hit musical "The Lion King."

The New York Film Academy, where Hollopeter studies, said it had given Autrey $5,000 and offered scholarships to his daughters, while The New York Daily News reported Autrey had been offered a television show apartment make-over.

Autrey -- whose boss didn't believe his excuse for being late to work until he saw on the Internet what Autrey had done -- is also scheduled to appear on both "The Late Show With David Letterman" and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

"Good things happen when you do good," Autrey said. "What better way to start a new year than saving a life?"

Autrey said he has visited Hollopeter in hospital and met the young man's father.

Previous recipients of New York's Bronze Medallion include civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The last recipient was Housing Authority employee Felix Vasquez, who caught a baby thrown from a New York City burning building in 2005.

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Man, this hero business is quite lucrative. Over $15,000, week long trip to Disneyworld, booking on talk shows and paid tuition at the NY Film Academy for his kids. Holy cow. Dude deserves it though.

I hope that others will try to help people but not for the reward.

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Yes when you flatten yourself out under a speeding train, even if there seems to be enough clearance, you can never be sure that something might not be hanging down just a bit too far. If it does not kill you outright by the strike, it can snag your clothes and send you summersaulting down the track among all those deadly wheels. Can you imagine being so close to a screaming death machine and not knowing for sure if it will not be over at any moment?

Not until the train has completely passed, can you be sure that you will not end up in a strung-out line of pieces.

This guy had to make sure he held the first guy down, so he laid on top of him, which made his clearance to the train more doubtful due to the need for the train to clear the thickness of two people rather than one.

Grease on his hat from the train wheel. Nuts. Split second decisions. So glad this worked out. Incredible.

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In another post on here it was reported in the news that the hero guy "used a pen to clear the victim's throat because his tongue was stuck. He then helped him up and the victim collapsed and lost his balance then fell onto the track" (I'm paraphrasing of course).

It's rare, in our society, to find a person that can de-polarize us from any view, from any aspect of an argument, and get us all to say "What a hero". I haven't felt admiration for someone like this since the countless hero stories of 9/11. And, not to EVER take away from the firefighters of that day, this guy wasn't even doing his job. Just a man willing to do the impossible to save another man's life. He deserves any rewards people send him.

Coincidentally, I remember reading a response to when the story about Trump giving him $10,000 came out...a few people claimed this was too little and Trump was being greedy. Someone reminded us that $10,000 is the most you can give someone before they are taxed on the money.