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A Subway Story To Restore Your Faith In Your Fellow Straphangers
By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 22, 2011
Modified Aug 22, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 22, 2011
Modified Aug 22, 2011
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Yesterday, we were all a bit disturbed by a video of a bloody, disoriented man rolling around on the L train tracks after falling off the platform at the DeKalb Avenue station in Bushwick as another person filmed the injured man while mocking him. But below, here's a nice story from reader Hossannah Asuncion that shows not all New Yorkers are so inured to bad situations in the subways.
I did want to offer an anecdote as a possible counter to how awful, sad and deprave the behavior of the video speaks to.
Last night at the Carroll Street F station a man fell onto the tracks. I found a call box, but it was taking a while for the call to be answered. Another man who was trying to help stood by the call box so I could find help from above ground. The staff at the Gowanus Yacht Club called the nearest precinct.
When I went back downstairs the man was at the callbox and was still trying to explain the situation. A woman told us that the man who had fallen was safe on the platform. Two very, very heroic men jumped onto the tracks to help the man while two other men pulled him up to the platform.
The police eventually came and so I left, but I didn't get a moment to thank the men who risked their lives to save someone else. It was nice to experience people who do the right thing. I've been thinking about it a lot today, and this video makes me even more grateful to having witnessed strangers help a stranger.
We believe this incident was not caught on film, since people were, you know, running around trying to help each other.
Tagged
random acts of kindness
strangers
subway
subway heroes
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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