- Heartbreaking bodycam footage followed the officers as they ran through the station, jumped over barriers and then made their way to the track where the stricken man was located, ‘inches from the third rail’.
Two quick-thinking New York police officers sprang into action when they were called to save the life of a subway passenger who fell onto the tracks as a train barreled toward him at a Bronx station during the evening rush hour on Tuesday.
Heartbreaking bodycam footage followed the officers as they ran through the station, jumped over barriers and then headed to the track where the stricken man was located, “just inches from the third rail.”
‘Come on! Come on! Get up!’, you hear one of the officers shouting during the rescue operation. Shortly after the man is removed from danger, a train horn sounds.
The man was pulled home safely with help from other commuters at the Third Avenue-149th Street Station, which is served by trains number two and five, the NYPD said in a news release.
The statement said the man had suffered a seizure before falling. The two officers stayed with him until the ambulance arrived. In the video, the audience can be heard applauding.
The stricken man, pictured here, suffered a seizure before falling onto the tracks
Good Samaritans helped the two brave officers by hoisting the man onto the platform
The officers stayed with the man until paramedics arrived on the scene while an onlooker offered water
“They both risked their lives when they jumped on the rails to save his life,” a woman is heard saying in this part of the clip
“You saved a life,” says one man. ‘You all did well. Really well done,” said another.
‘I thought the train was coming. I thought a train was going to hit us. I swear to God!’ you hear an officer say.
The video also shows the man being taken into an ambulance. “They both risked their lives by jumping on the rails to save his life,” said a woman sitting on a bench next to the ambulance crew.
The two officers, who were not named, were assigned to the station and were monitoring the access road when a member of the public alerted them to what was happening.
From there, one officer jumped a fence, while another was assisted by a member of the public who opened the emergency gate.
The victim was taken to Lincoln Hospital where he was in stable condition. No one else was injured during the incident.
The two officers are with the 47th Precinct
‘Not only was it inches away from the third rail, but there was an oncoming train approaching the station at high speed. Officers sprang into action and pulled him off the tracks without hesitation,” the NYPD statement said.
In February, a similar incident took place where two officers rescued a man who fell on the tracks and hit his head.
In that case, officers used a member of the public and asked him to point out any approaching trains and tell them to stop as they entered the station in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan.