David Bogner would probably say, "Well, he's a Navy veteran, what do you expect?"
NY Times: A Man Down, a Train Arriving, and a Stranger Makes a Choice
Hat-tip: JR, via MG.
NY Times: A Man Down, a Train Arriving, and a Stranger Makes a Choice
By CARA BUCKLEY; Published: January 3, 2007Or as we know from Pirkei Avot; "Where there is no man, try to be a man."
It was every subway rider’s nightmare, times two.
Who has ridden along New York’s 656 miles of subway lines and not wondered: “What if I fell to the tracks as a train came in? What would I do?”
And who has not thought: “What if someone else fell? Would I jump to the rescue?”
Wesley Autrey, a 50-year-old construction worker and Navy veteran, faced both those questions in a flashing instant yesterday, and got his answers almost as quickly.
Mr. Autrey was waiting for the downtown local at 137th Street and Broadway in Manhattan around 12:45 p.m. He was taking his two daughters, Syshe, 4, and Shuqui, 6, home before work.
Nearby, a man collapsed, his body convulsing. Mr. Autrey and two women rushed to help, he said. The man, Cameron Hollopeter, 20, managed to get up, but then stumbled to the platform edge and fell to the tracks, between the two rails.
The headlights of the No. 1 train appeared. “I had to make a split decision,” Mr. Autrey said.
So he made one, and leapt.
Mr. Autrey lay on Mr. Hollopeter, his heart pounding, pressing him down in a space roughly a foot deep. The train’s brakes screeched, but it could not stop in time.
Five cars rolled overhead before the train stopped, the cars passing inches from his head, smudging his blue knit cap with grease. Mr. Autrey heard onlookers’ screams. “We’re O.K. down here,” he yelled, “but I’ve got two daughters up there. Let them know their father’s O.K.” He heard cries of wonder, and applause.
Power was cut, and workers got them out. Mr. Hollopeter, a student at the New York Film Academy, was taken to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center. He had only bumps and bruises, said his grandfather, Jeff Friedman. The police said it appeared that Mr. Hollopeter had suffered a seizure.
Mr. Autrey refused medical help, because, he said, nothing was wrong. He did visit Mr. Hollopeter in the hospital before heading to his night shift. “I don’t feel like I did something spectacular; I just saw someone who needed help,” Mr. Autrey said. “I did what I felt was right.”
Hat-tip: JR, via MG.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
10 comments:
Now if this had happened in Israel he would have been dragged out from under the train and promptly arrested for for reckless endangerment... and called a 'frier' by every 'pakid' who handled his 'tik' as it made its slow journey through the legal system. The legal fees would wipe him out.
The man who had the seizure would have been forgotten and left on the tracks in the headlong rush to chastize the idiot who had jumped down to protect him. He would eventually wake up and go about his business without making any attempt to help the man who jumped to is rescue. When asked why he might answer "who am I to mix in? The police must know what their doing."
The train's engineer would file a claim with Bituach Leumi for full disability due to mental anguish and receive his full salary for the rest of his life... retiring to North Miami Beach where he would set up a security consultation business catering to visiting South American, um, 'businessmen'. :-)
Trep: I knew I could count on you for a pro-Zionist comment! ;-)
amazing story... and most of Trepps addition is probably true..
Sometimes when I hear/read that kind of nasty swill similar to what 'trep' just spewed, I wonder if I live in the same country those clowns are talking about. Or maybe it's just a 'karma' kind of thing...
Truth.
Truth... It's called a sense of humor... look into finding one.
home skillets, take s second and marinate in this one... I put myself in the situation and I don't know if I could have done it... damn, wesley's got brass cajones. let's honor a brotha.
Ok, Trep, here's some humour for you:
What's the difference between a Jew and a pizza?...
Oh, yeah, some things just aren't funny, sorry.
For the record, the only serious problems Israel suffers from could be solved with about 50 blindfolds and two and a half packs of cigarettes...
Hesed by the 'average [Jewish] Israeli' is certainly not the problem here.
Truth.
Uh....well, I'll just be ignoring the comments above mine, go about my business, and say, "Wow... what an amazing story."
Which it is, and if I could put a few more of my two cents in...
My former English teacher/mentor in high school - a really lovely woman, in every way - suffered a similar near-catastrophe, when she unexpectedly lost consciousness and fell onto the tracks.
Someone managed to jump down and actually rescue her, Tarzan style, by flinging her over their shoulder and hoisting her (with the help of fellow strap-hangers) back up onto the platform.
She walked away with a few missing teeth and a big bump on the head - extreeeeeemely lucky, as this sorta thing happens in Nu Yawk a lot, and the person's life isn't always salvagable.
My thoughts on this...
Anyone who instinctively rushes to save the life of another human being, with little to no consideration for their own personal safety, deserves a special audience with the Almighty in Olam Haba, after, of course, being scolded for flouting pikuah nefesh.
They're saving a life but at the same time putting one in grave danger.
So my thoughts are sort of up in the air on this...how unusual.
Again @ truth... Nobody appointed you the humor monitor of this comment board. My attempt at a joke was just that. It was nowhere near as callous as belittling genocide (as you idiotically suggested) and as an Israeli I reserve the right to poke fun at my own.
Another joke that will probably find equal disfavor in your eyes is the one about the Israeli who will run you over with his car because he's too busy to wait for you to finish crossing the street... but then drive you to the Emergency Room and sit with you all night while you wait for the docs to fix you up.
Please get over yourself and lighten up. If you don't find something funny, take a deep breath and imagine for a moment that there are other people in the world besides yourself.
Again @ truth... Nobody appointed you the humor monitor of this comment board. My attempt at a joke was just that. It was nowhere near as callous as belittling genocide (as you idiotically suggested) and as an Israeli I reserve the right to poke fun at my own.
Another joke that will probably find equal disfavor in your eyes is the one about the Israeli who will run you over with his car because he's too busy to wait for you to finish crossing the street... but then drive you to the Emergency Room and sit with you all night while you wait for the docs to fix you up.
Please get over yourself and lighten up. If you don't find something funny, take a deep breath and imagine for a moment that there are other people in the world besides yourself.
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