age gap support community


OUR SPONSOR: Best Young and Old Dating - perfect and safe on-line community for the young and old singles to meet and find exciting romances, warm companionship and more!






Subway Hero

Chatterbox
01-03-2007, 07:18 PM
What an AMAZING story!!!!!!

In case someone hasn't seen it:

Top News
Save | E-mail | Print
Jan 3, 2007 7:09 pm US/Eastern

Miracle Under 137th Street: Subway Save For Ages
Navy Vet Pulls Seizure Victim Under Train, Both Escape
SLIDESHOW OF THE DAY: 2006 Newsmakers Remembered
(CBS) NEW YORK In an incredible case of heroism and bravery, a man who fell onto subway tracks early this afternoon and a good samaritan who then jumped on the tracks to save him miraculously suffered only minor injuries after an oncoming subway train actually ran over them.

The incident happened about 1 p.m. at Broadway IRT station at 137th Street when a 20-year-old man apparently tumbled onto the tracks after suffering from a seizure.

Another subway passenger, 50-year-old Wesley Autrey, was standing on the platform with his two daughters whom he was taking home so he could go to his construction job. When Autrey saw the man fall, he quickly took action and left his daughters to jump on the tracks and bring the man to safety as an oncoming train approached.

"I was trying to pull him up, but his weight [was too much] plus he was fighting against me -- he didn't know who I was. The only thing that popped up in my mind was, 'OK well go for the gutter,' so I dove in, I pinned him down and once the first car ran over us my thing with him was to keep him still," Autrey told CBS 2.

Autrey said the man was still moving violently from the seizure, so he pulled him into the center of the tracks and laid on top of him. The train literally passed over the two men, and Autrey said there was "maybe" about two inches between their bodies and the speeding subway.

"We're looking and we can see the train coming -- there's no way the train can stop before this gentleman can get him off the tracks," said Patricia Brown, a social worker who Autrey had handed his daughters over to before he dove onto the tracks. "So he covered him with his body and pushed him down to a point where the train wouldn't hit his head and held him under the tracks while the train came and rolled right over the top of them."

Autrey's daughters had instantly thought the train had killed their father and the teen, but their worries quickly dissipated when they heard their father scream up from under the train that the two were fine.

"I didn't want the man's body to get run over plus I was with my daughters and I didn't want them to see that," Autrey added.

The man who fell onto the tracks was taken to St. Luke's Hospital where he's said to be in stable condition. His identity has not yet been released. Autrey walked away without a scratch. Neither came into any contact with the train.

Service was suspended on the 1 line after the incident for about 45 minutes.


Added by me: He had grease from the underneath of the subway car on his hat - that's how close it was!!!!!!!! :eek:

What a wonderful, wonderful human being!!!

eponavet
01-03-2007, 07:27 PM
I saw this on the news tonight, and thought the same thing...what a wonderful human being. Then I thought about something he said in his interview about why he did it...the only thing he mentioned other than not really thinking about it was that he was trained for that type of situation in Viet Nam. Which got me thinking...would any of us, who had never been in a situation where we had either saved someone else or been saved by someone else, have done the same thing? Or would we have been paralyzed and confused by what was happening? I would like to think I would have reacted in the same way, but when he mentioned this reason as to why he may have made the decisions he made, I though...hmmmm - maybe I would have just stood there wondering what to do.

Regardless, a very cool story and outcome! :)

Chatterbox
01-03-2007, 07:31 PM
Interesting question, Eponavet. I just saw an interview where he said that part of his motivation was that he didn't want his daughters to see the man killed on the tracks. I wondered how he knew that he had enough room under the subway car???



Add: What a CUTE picture of you!!!

eponavet
01-03-2007, 07:42 PM
Chatter....why thank you! I thought I looked rather cute through the fence! :p

Chatterbox
01-03-2007, 07:53 PM
Chatter....why thank you! I thought I looked rather cute through the fence! :p

ROFL!!!

You stinkah! I DELIBERATELY said "of you" to avoid any "confusion"!!! LOL

Harrison
01-03-2007, 08:11 PM
Fantastic story!!

I am not one bit surprised that it was a veteran who did that.

I'm not saying I could do that.. :eek:

Just that the best military training focuses on making split-second life-or-death decisions.

Thanks, Chatterbox, for sharing with us.

Chatterbox
01-03-2007, 08:13 PM
You're welcome, Harrison! It's WONDERFUL to have such a fabulous story to share! By the by, he's an African-American! :cool:

Harrison
01-03-2007, 08:23 PM
You're welcome, Harrison! It's WONDERFUL to have such a fabulous story to share! By the by, he's an African-American! :cool:

Wow!! Great role model. Our community needs more such heroes. Give Shaq a rest. ;)

MerAlove23
01-03-2007, 08:55 PM
What a great story!! He definatly deserves a medal .. I do hope the city does something to honor his bravery!!!!

Peachy
01-05-2007, 02:04 PM
I also saw this on the news. Stories like this do reaffirm my belief in humanity. :)

The Rose Knight
01-05-2007, 02:14 PM
A wonderful story! I had heard about it, but thanks for sharing it!! That man deserves a medal.

Dan

kindanice
01-05-2007, 02:39 PM
I loved this story. I saw it on the news. Trump gave him $10,000.00 for his heroic act. And Disney gave him a week at Disney for him and his family. He deserves every bit of praise and adoration that he gets. What a wonderful person.
Has any one heard any mention of his wife? or the childrens mother? I notice she hasn't been present for any of the media I have come across. Just wondering.

Chatterbox
01-05-2007, 04:32 PM
I haven't heard anything about his childrens' mother, kindanice - perhaps she is staying out of the spotlight so he can be the center of much-deserved attention?

The other thing I have seen is a video of the father of the young man he saved breaking down when he tries to express this gratitude and to console him, Mr. Autrey put his arm around him and kissed him on the head! Now THAT'S a real man! This guy is golden! What a fine example he is.

He's enjoying every moment. In another video he said (from inaccurate memory), "What better way is there to start a New Year than saving a life?" I just want to hug him! :D

PinkCat
01-05-2007, 04:51 PM
The guy did an incredible thing. No question. I know I couldn't do it. I'm not a "stand around and do nothing" kinda gal, but I'm not putting myself in the path of an oncoming train... the guy's Vietnam training probably helped make him very take-charge and brave.

Am I the only one who sort of thinks the gifts he's receiving are sort of tacky...? Don't get me wrong, I think he deserves praise and medals and glory and a free trip... but for example Trump (the king of bad taste) gave the guy $10K... but there were a couple other undisclosed donors giving him undisclosed amounts as well. It looks to me like Trump is just doing this for publicity, and probably Disney too. Hey, I'm an accountant, I know that business is business and it's smart to align yourself and your company with this hero, but... I don't know. Is anyone picking up what I'm putting down? Just like those gifts sort of cheapen what he did...?

eponavet
01-05-2007, 05:01 PM
I don't think they cheapened what he did at all, but I do agree that Trump and Disney want the publicity...I seriously doubt Donald would be jumpin' under any trains ;) IMO, the tax write off thing is on the donors, not the guy who did the heroic deed. He saved this person without any expectations and it's hard in my mind to cheapen that.

PinkCat
01-05-2007, 05:38 PM
I don't think they cheapened what he did at all, but I do agree that Trump and Disney want the publicity...I seriously doubt Donald would be jumpin' under any trains ;) IMO, the tax write off thing is on the donors, not the guy who did the heroic deed. He saved this person without any expectations and it's hard in my mind to cheapen that.

No, absolutely, you are totally right, what he did was really incredible and I don't mean to suggest in any way that what he did was any less heroic because of what Trump and Disney are doing... I mean, I certainly don't think he did it to get any sort of material gain at all.

I guess here is what gets me about it... an incredible act of human bravery is witnessed, it's amazing and really shows the incredible possibilities of the human spirit. Really shows what a person is capable of if he or she is strong and determined to be a good person... something we can all aspire to. Amazing.

But then enter Trump and Disney, sensing an opportunity to self-promote and BANG, what have we got? "This incredible act of bravery brought to you by Disney." To me it does cheapen it for me. I am just a reader far far away... I don't expect this will cheapen the experience for the hero or the man he saved or their families. But I think people deserve to be inspired once in a while without things coming down to dollars and cents (don't tell my boss I said that, haha).

Again, I don't think any less of what he did... but why does the story of his bravery have to run with the story of what he received (that's how it ran in the paper I read this morning)? As if some crappy 1-week vacation is on par with saving a life.

Why can't he receive these gifts and not have that be part of the story? Now it's just like winning a game show or something.

PinkCat
01-05-2007, 05:42 PM
Incidentally, remember the guy that pulled that baby out of the well years ago? He was treated like a hero for a bit, got his 15 minutes of fame, and then... that's it, nothing... and the guy became massively depressed and suicidal, from the anti-climactic feeling. He shot himself.

This is just an interesting anecdote, not related to my previous post.

Chatterbox
01-05-2007, 07:46 PM
Happy 2,000th Post, Pinkcat!!! :D

PinkCat
01-05-2007, 08:02 PM
Happy 2,000th Post, Pinkcat!!! :D


OH, SWEET!!! Thank you so much for noticing and posting!! I've known that was coming soon... :)

Rob
01-06-2007, 07:07 AM
This was on the news over here after it happened. It's nice to see/hear stories like this, it re-affirms your faith in people.

But then I also agree with PinkCat, you get people like Donald Trump and Disney coming in and it kinda reminds you of the opposite too.

whiterose
01-06-2007, 07:46 AM
The guy is the ultimate hero. Who knows what makes people react in a split second. Maybe adrenaline. Maybe a higher power. Maybe instinct. But, they are both so fortunate to have survived. I read that the depth of the gutter is not the same all throughout the tracks. In some places it might be as shallow as just a few inches. The man took a chance and saved a life. That alone is priceless.

You can think of the Trump and Disney donations in two different ways. One that it was for publicity. Or, possibly, like some celebrities do, they might have thought "This guy deserves a reward and I want to make sure he gets it." So, you know, the situation could be read both ways.

But, what a wonderful way to start the new year. The "good stuff" in the news is frequently overshadowed by the "bad stuff." So, it's definitely nice to hear something positive for a change.


EZ Archive Ads Plugin for vBulletin Copyright 2006 Computer Help Forum