NEW YORK (WPIX/CNN) - Thanks to quick-thinking workers, a New York man is alive after his walker rolled off a subway platform, and he fell onto the tracks.
Witnesses crowded on a New York subway platform watched in horror as a 53-year-old man, using a walker with wheels, tumbled onto the tracks. (Source: Ronald Stephens/WPIX/Tribune/CNN)
Witnesses crowded on a New York subway platform at the height of rush hour Tuesday watched in horror as a 53-year-old man, using a walker with wheels, tumbled onto the tracks.
A train had just pulled out, and another was minutes away.
"The man was screaming out, ‘I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I see the lights.’ And everyone was like, ‘No, no, you're safe,” witness Ronald Stephens said.
Ronald Stephens was on the subway platform with his wife Joanna and their 18-month-old daughter. The father says he was ready to jump onto the tracks to help the 53-year-old.
"Certain things when you see it, you just have an automatic reaction. When I saw the man, it wasn’t a second thought. It was like, ‘Get that man off the tracks. I don’t want him to die,’” he said.
Quick-thinking workers radioed the motorman, who stopped the coming train just short of the station. Service halted while EMS workers removed the man from the tracks.
"Luckiest man I ever seen,” Ronald Stephens said.
The 53-year-old suffered a few bumps and bruises, but he’s expected to be OK.
Copyright 2019 WPIX, Tribune, Ronald Stephens via CNN. All rights reserved.
