Bystander Pulls Off Daring Subway Rescue
Commuter Jumps Onto Tracks To Save Teen Who Suffered A Seizure
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Subway Savior Speaks
Subway hero Wesley Autrey and his daughters spoke with Hannah Storm. Autrey says all New Yorkers should be ready to assist their fellow citizens in need.
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Eye To Eye: Wesley Autrey
Only On The Web: Wesley Autrey became a hero when he saved a man who fell onto the subway tracks as a train was approaching. He talks with Steve Hartman about his act of bravery.
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New York Subway Hero
A 50-year-old man saved a stranger's life on a New York subway. The man was having a seizure, and William Autrey saved him from being run over by covering him with his body. Steve Hartman reports.
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Wesley Autrey, the Good Samaritan who jumped onto subway tracks in Manhattan to save another man from an oncoming train. (CBS/EARLY SHOW)
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Cameron Hollopeter, 19, of Littleton, Mass., fell onto the tracks at Broadway’s 137th Street station Tuesday. Another subway passenger, 50-year-old Wesley Autrey of Manhattan, 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 Hollopeter fall, he quickly took action and left his daughters to jump on the tracks to bring the man to safety as an oncoming train approached.
"I didn't want the man's body to get run over,” Autrey said. “Plus, I was with my daughters and I didn't want them to see that."
Autrey jumped down onto the tracks and initially tried to pull Hollopeter up to the platform but had to decide whether he could get him up in time to avoid both of them getting hit.
"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,” Autrey told CBS station WCBS-TV.
Autrey spoke to co-anchor Hannah Storm on The Early Show about his heroics. To see the interview, click here.
Autrey said the man was still moving violently from the seizure, so he pulled him into the center of the tracks — away from the high-voltage third rail — and laid on top of him. "The only thing that popped up in my mind was, 'OK, well, go for the gutter,'" Autrey said. "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."
The subway trough between the rails, which is used for drainage, is typically about 12 inches deep but can be as shallow as 8 or as deep as 24, a New York City Transit spokesman said.
The train's operator saw someone on the tracks and put the emergency brakes on. Two cars of the train passed over the men — with about 2 inches to spare, Autrey said — before it came to a stop.
Autrey's daughters thought the train had killed their father and the teen, but were relieved to hear their father shout up from under the train that the two were fine.
Hollopeter, a student at the New York Film Academy, was taken to a hospital, where he was in stable condition with only minor injuries.
Hollopeter's stepmother, Rachel Hollopeter, said Autrey was "an angel."
"He was so heroic," she said early Wednesday in a telephone interview. "If he wasn't there, this would be a whole different call."
Onlooker Patricia Brown said Autrey, a Vietnam War veteran, "needs to be recognized as a hero." Others cheered him and hugged him outside the train station.
The incident took place around 12:45 p.m. Service on the line, which runs between the southern tip of Manhattan and the Bronx, was suspended for about 45 minutes.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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See all 91 CommentsGK
PS: How can we get in touch with him?
Greetings from as far as Brazil, which is where I am, and probably is not as far as your story will reach.
Sending you huge hugs and blessings from Newfoundland Canada
Wendy
If there were more people like this bystander, the world would truly be a different place.
Thank you for showing us all what "it" is really all about, Mr. Autry.
Thank you for your service to your country in Vietnam, and thank you for your service to humanity in the NYC subway system.
You are an example and inspiration to us all.
Mr Autrey, I feel better knowing that there is at least one person out there like you.
Thank you for that.
A black man was brave enough to risk his life for a white man in trouble.
Do you racists feel stupid now?
By the way, for the person who somehow connected this to racism, YOU are the only racist I see here.
Way to go CBS for reporting it.
mpetrilak & con_dik_kikr,
It astonishes me that you've used such a great story about human strength to insult others and incite controversy. you should be ashamed of yourselves. It is your posts which preempted me to sign up. (this is my first post).
I am a Vet. and I have had the chance to meet heroes, Medal of Honor recipients, and you certainly belong with that group of man. Some people perform heroic acts out of pure instinct, very few make a calculated decision to risk their life for a fellow human being. You will receive your reward in heaven, until then, may God bless you and your loved ones abundantly indeed.
I never gave it a thought whether the kid he saved was while or black or purple. Who cares, what he did was amazing. Had they not shown Mr. Autrey's picture who would have known he was black or white or purple and who cares if the kid was black and Mr. Autry was white. Quit trying to start problems and take anything away from what he did.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html
and ask him to give Mr. Wesley the highest accolade possible. It costs you nothing and will get recognition to someone who definetely deserves it.
I was referring to your insult to those who don't believe God exixts. Why do you have to bring that up instaed of complement the man for his heroism?
You would try to suck the joy out of anything. As bad as reading your hate-filled babble is, it must be really horrible BEING you.
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