Two daring NYPD cops jumped onto the tracks at a Bronx subway stop to save a fallen rider just moments before a train entered the station, recently released body-camera footage shows.
The transit officers, assigned to the Third Ave.-149th St. station in Mott Haven to quell crime on the rails, were standing by the turnstiles when straphangers ran up and said a commuter had an apparent seizure and fell onto the tracks about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Body camera footage shows the cops running to the lip of the platform for the No. 2 and 5 trains, where they found the man sprawled out across the tracks, his head dangerously close to the third rail.
When a man suffered a medical episode & fell on the subway tracks, not only was he inches away from the third rail, but there was an oncoming train rapidly approaching the station. Despite the imminent dangers, @NYPD47Pct officers sprang into action & without hesitation pulled… pic.twitter.com/siHHnXCyIG
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) May 15, 2024
The officers hopped down onto the roadbed, grabbed the victim by each arm and hoisted him back onto the platform, the video shows.
“Come on! Come on! Get up!” one cop is heard screaming as the officers lifted the victim to safety.
One officer leapt back onto the platform but the other cop had trouble getting off the roadbed because his gun belt kept striking the lip of the platform, an NYPD spokesman said.
The officer’s partner and a good Samaritan helped pull the cop back up as witnesses applauded, the video shows. The blaring horn of a train coming into the station is heard moments after the cops made it back onto the platform.
NYPD
The man’s head was dangerously close to the third rail. (NYPD)
“I thought the train was going to come,” one cop was recorded saying. “I thought a train was going to hit us. I swear to God.”
EMS was called and medics took the man who fell to Lincoln Hospital, where he remained in stable condition Thursday.
“Not only was he inches away from the third rail, but there was an oncoming train rapidly approaching the station,” the NYPD tweeted. “Officers sprang into action and without hesitation pulled him off the tracks.”
