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Straphanger Manages To Save Himself After Falling Onto Subway Tracks
By
Emma Whitford
Published Apr 8, 2015
Modified Apr 8, 2015
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Courtesy Geoffrey Croft
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By
Emma Whitford
Published Apr 8, 2015
Modified Apr 8, 2015
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An unidentified man fell from the 6 train platform at 86th Street on the Upper East Side yesterday evening during peak rush hour—but he managed to hoist himself to safety before a train pulled into the station, according to witness Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates.
"He fell very quickly onto the tracks, and then people were yelling," Croft said. The man did not appear to have been pushed.
Customers waved their hands at the oncoming train operator in an attempt to stop it. Croft says, "There were two trains [in the station.] The one on the downtown side came halfway into the station and stopped." Even though the fallen man wasn't in the downtown path, "he didn't want to go near the area."
The uptown train "completely stopped, two feet into the station. The conductor honked the horn multiple times, but there was no way that he could see what was going on, because of those I-beams that make up the foundation of the subway station. He just hung out."
Meanwhile, the man who fell on the tracks "got himself back up. He was a tall guy. He was bleeding from his head and had a huge, silver-dollar sized bruise on his right cheek."
Back on the platform, the man was attended to by a number of his fellow straphangers—a doctor among them—who placed a cushion under his head while they waited for medics. Croft tells us that "the people rallied around him. They were very gentle." This was fortunate because, "It took at least ten minutes for EMS to arrive. People were wondering what was going on."
About ten minutes after the incident, a valiant if incredibly foolhardy passenger leapt down into the tracks of his own volition, to retrieve the victim's jacket, Croft said.
Here's a handy guide on what to do if you or someone else falls onto the subway tracks.
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