NYC subway savior: Someone had to help

[MR.BROWNSTONE]

Wesley Autrey said he made a quick decision to jump into a subway track to rescue a stranger from an ongoing train, an act he hopes other New Yorkers would follow.
"I did it out of a split-second reaction. And if I had to do it again, I probably would," he said on CBS' "The Early Show' Thursday. "I was like, 'Wow, I got to go get this guy ... somebody's gotta save this guy but I was the closest one.

"I'm still saying I'm not a hero ... 'cause I believe all New Yorkers should get into that type of mode," the 50-year-old construction worker said. "You should do the right thing."

Autrey's phone has been ringing off the hook since he helped the man on Tuesday by pushing him into a gap between the rails. Some callers were complete strangers so inspired by his bravery that they offered rewards.

Besides appearing on several morning television shows Thursday, he was set to tape an appearance on David Letterman's CBS "Late Show" and visit City Hall to be honored by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In hindsight, even Autrey was somewhat startled by his dramatic decision. But knowing he narrowly escaped injury or possibly death, he didn't regret his choice.

"I did something to save someone's life," he said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, while waiting for a downtown Manhattan train, Autrey saw Cameron Hollopeter, a 19-year-old film student, suffering from some kind of medical episode. After stumbling down the platform, Hollopeter, of Littleton, Mass., fell onto the tracks with a train on its way into the station.

Autrey, traveling with his two young daughters, knew he had to do something.

"If I let him stay there by himself, he's going to be dismembered," the Navy veteran remembered thinking.

He jumped down to the tracks, a few feet below platform level, and rolled with the young man into a drainage trough ? cold, wet and more than a little unpleasant smelling ? between the rails as the southbound No. 1 train came into the 137th Street/City College station.

The train's operator saw someone on the tracks and put the emergency brakes on. Some train cars passed over Autrey and Hollopeter with only a couple of inches to spare, but neither man suffered any harm from the incident.

Hollopeter was taken to a nearby hospital; Autrey refused medical attention ? and then went to work.

Autrey went by the hospital Wednesday afternoon for a visit with Hollopeter and his family. Afterward, he and Hollopeter's father addressed reporters.

"Mr. Autrey's instinctive and unselfish act saved our son's life," Larry Hollopeter, his voice choking up, said Wednesday.

Source: Yahoo News

[The Dog]

Amazing story.  Surprised nobody has posted this sooner. 

[SLCPUNK]

I remember watching an airline crash outside of DC on tv as a child. Many people died. The camera had focused on a woman struggling with her remaining energy to try and grab a hold of the life preserver being thrown down to her by the rescue helicopter. She was unable to hold on, her hands seemingly paralyzed, rigid as the cold set in, sealing her fate on live tv. Even as a  young boy (maybe ten years old) I realized this woman would probably meet her demise and I would (sadly) watch in horror along with the rest of the country, just as I had watched others go under and not come back up before her.

The banks were deep with snow, the river was full of ice, and the weather was absolutely miserable. A man standing on the side watching this woman drown could take it no longer and dove in that freezing water to save her. You could see him in the foreground prior to the dive, very edgy and obviously upset. He swam like hell, grabbed that lady and dragged her to the shore. She was just about finished, and this guy dove in and got her. It was the most gut wrenching, human, and amazingly triumphant thing I think I may have ever seen-still tears me up to think about it to this day.

I can't remember if he was a camera man, or somebody who just came up to help. If I remember correctly he said he didn't even really remember doing it, adrenaline just overtook him and he was in the water next. Amazing.

[The Dog]

SLC that sounds really powerful.  I think we need more stories like this one and the one you shared to remind us that there is still good in people.  seems all you read about is how bad and shitty people are.

Brownstones post is good, but there is a more recent account of the subway saviours story, really really amazing.  The fact he did it while his kids were there just blows me away.

[SLCPUNK]

SLC that sounds really powerful.

It was powerful. My father was supposed to be on the plane, but end up going a week before (If my memory is correct.) At the time we lived in Fairfax and my father was getting the order to transfer down to Tampa, so I remember my Mom watching it and saying "Your dad was supposed to be on that plane." With the devastating images of that tragedy and my Mom saying what she did, it burned itself into my brain forever I imagine.

I found the guy too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenny_Skutnik


"By then one of these was too weak to grab the line, so a bystander, government office assistant Lenny Skutnik, stripped off his coat and boots, and in short sleeves, dove into the icy water, and swam out to assist her."

[Sin Cut]

I got a story, not as heroic as these ones, but a true story anyway.

We were at this rock festival a couple of years back and my buddy was going to get some beer and was gone for over an hour. So on his way to the beer tent he found this  young teen lying unconscious and half-naked on the ground; she had been raped. So my friend covered her with his jacket and carried her outside the festival area to the emergency tents, where her older brother was waiting worried sick.

What is strange is that everyone walked just straight pass the girl.

Saving someone dangering yourself is one thing, but just not caring when someone has been left like like this girl is just sick.

And the girls brother insisted my friend to take a hundred euros as reward.

So in a way, you can drink way more after you "saved" someone

I still find it hard to believe that the majority of people don't do shit in someone needs help.

[babydolls]

My husband told me of a story that has stayed with him.  He was watching a programme on tv that showed some footage of a group of people swimming off their boat on a day trip.  The person videoing it was on the boat and as they panned around the area, you could see the shadow of a huge shark swimming towards the bathers.  the guy yells out and screams at all the bathers "shark, shark" and the swimmers panic and start trying to swim to the boat.  This shark really leisurely, but so quickly, reaches this one woman and gets her by her leg.  Everyone is screaming, swimming frantically and trying to make a noise to scare the shark, but the woman is clearly being eaten alive.  A guy on a small lifeboat dives in and swims like a maniac towards her, manages to grab her and amazingly the shark (who is a huge great white, but wasnt thrashing around,) had let go in that moment.  The guy manages to swim her to the boat whilst someone fires a shot to scare the shark and they get the woman in the boat.  The woman did lose limbs (i think poss both legs) - but the couple fell in love and married.  Unselfish, amazing, herioc and very brave spur of the moment life-changing decision.


On another note of coincidence following on from SLCPUNK - johnny rotten and his wife were supposed to be on the Pan-Am jet that was bombed over the town of Lockerbie in Scotland in the 80's.  They missed the flight as they were running late that day. Everyone on the plane died as did some of the townsfolk, as the wreckage fell right into the town. Full-on, terrifying  to realise that they should have been on that plane.

[GeorgeSteele]

Unbelievably inspiring stories, those people are amazing human beings.

My wife once saved a life, just not a human one.  A couple pit bulls that lived down the street somehow "escaped" off their property and attacked the next-door neighboor's dog.   The owner was screaming in horror behind her screen door watching her dog get mauled by these 2 beasts.  My wife runs out of the house to see what all the commotion is and then immediately hops the fence, jumps right into the middle of the fracas and grabs the dog getting chewed up to drag it inside the house.  Incredibly, as she's doing this, the pit bulls do not go after her at all - all they care about is mauling the poor little dog.  So she manages to get the dog near the doorway, but the pit bulls won't let go.  So the owner starts wacking the pit bulls with an umbrella and also hands one to my wife, who starts beating on them with a vengeance.  Finally, when both dogs momentarily release, they pull the victimized dog safely inside and shut the door.

The dog wound up needing a ridiculous amount of stitches but was ultimately OK.  Not a scratch on my wife or the owner.  When I got home that day and found out what happened, I almost had a heart attack, realizing that she could have gotten killed.  My wife, however, was only shaken up about repeatedly crushing the pit bulls over their heads with the umbrella.  She said that made her feel bad.  She's irrational and insane, but, hey, she's my hero.

[Verse Chorus Verse]

Wow, these stories are just great. It gives me hope for the human race.