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UWS Dad Jumps Onto Subway Tracks To Save Woman
By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 20, 2012
Modified May 20, 2012
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 20, 2012
Modified May 20, 2012
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While you were sipping your third mimosa and complaining about the subpar battery life on your cellular phone, Greg Wetzel was saving a woman's life. Wetzel, a 40-year-old father of three, was standing with his children at the West 72nd Street subway station at 12:45 yesterday afternoon when he saw something out of the corner of his eye: a woman had fallen unconscious onto the tracks. He immediately jumped down and lifted her to safety. "He didn’t hesitate,” a witness told the Daily News. “The guy was really amazing. This guy was like a real hero.”
The 50-year-old woman who collapsed was taken to Roosevelt Hospital. Not surprisingly, Wetzel downplayed his act that made other dads look lazy and weak (your wife is just trying to make you feel better: it totally does). "It was just the right thing to do. If you see someone on the tracks, it's hard not to do something." Ironically, he had just been telling his children to never go on the tracks. "The lesson, I guess," Wetzel says, "Is they saw first-hand what happened. That should give them a healthy fear of the platform."
Tagged
greg wetzel
heroes
subway
subway heroes
Upper West Side
uws
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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