Subway hero from LIUNA Local 79

The news of Wesley Autrey's heroism in the New York City subway reached all the way to Vancouver, and beyond. On January 2, Mr. Autrey, a laborer and shop steward with Local 79 of the Laborer's International Union, leapt onto the subway tracks to save a man who had fallen in front of an oncoming train due to a seizure:

For Laborer and Shop Steward Wesley Autrey, the decision to jump down onto the New York City subway tracks on January 2 and save a man suffering from a seizure was easy: “So I’m looking at this guy, kicking his legs and his hands are going all over the track. I’m seeing this oncoming train. I’m like, if somebody don’t do something, this guy’s going to be dismembered or he can lose, lose his life. And I’m looking around, and I noticed, I’m the only one to do it. So I just hopped in.”

Autrey, a Local 79 member since 1996, performed an act of bravery that made him an instant hero and celebrity. He has earned nicknames such as “Hero of Harlem,” “Subway Superman,” and Savior of the Subway.” While Autrey told a news conference he does not consider himself a hero, his story has circled the globe with hundreds of news reports including the New York Times and an appearance on the David Letterman Show as a special guest.

Autrey was waiting with his two daughters on the subway platform at the 137th St/City College station in Harlem, when film student Cameron Hollopeter suffered an epileptic attack and fell onto the tracks. Autrey enlisted to some bystanders to watch the little girls and jumped in to save Hollopeter.

Then, Autrey noticed the two headlights of an oncoming train coming at them from the tunnel. He said he instantly threw Mr. Hollopeter down onto his back into a 12-inch trough between the rails and jumped on top of him.

“I looked at the gutter and I said, ‘Well, if I push this guy down, okay. He’s gonna be safe. But what about you?’” Autrey recounted. “And I didn’t have much time to make a decision to either run left or right because I got the speeding train coming on to me. And I just made a split decision.”

“Since I do construction work with Local 79, we work in confined spaces a lot. So I looked, and my judgment was pretty right. The train did have enough room for me.”

Lying face-to-face, several train cars passed over Autrey and Hollopeter as the conductor slammed on the emergency brakes. The space between them and the underbelly of the train was mere inches.

Autrey and Hollopeter waited for 20 minutes for rescuers to turn off the third rail and extricate them. Hollopeter was taken to hospital, and Autrey went on to work after going home to change his clothes.

Comments

[Paul Hooson]

Just more proof that union folks are the very best folks. The bravery that guy showed was amazing. Incredible feat of courage and quick thinking. His two little girls should be very proud; their dad is Superman.

Sometimes when you're forced into a situation you go into a "zone" and just do the right thing and then think about it later. I once ran a bookstore/record store in Portland, and a mentally ill man came in with a big machete and threatened my customers lives one day. I stood between my customers and this machete guy and told him, "You're scaring my customers. If I give you a dollar to get yourself a cup of coffee will you stop scaring my customers and put that thing away". Fortunately he backed down and accepted. I'm not a brave guy by any means, but it was my job to ensure the safety of anyone in my store in the event of armed robbery, etc.

This is totally unrelated, but I posted a feature on my blog, www.progressivevalues.blogspot.com today about how at least 40 armed organizations and militia groups operate in Iraq with membership ranging from 1,000 to 100,000 armed members per organization, yet Bush expects success there by sending more troops in. Apparently Bush's alcohol and cocaine days did far more brain damage than most realize where he can't rationalize any longer.

[1984 Was Not a Shopping List]

http://www.repubblica.it/2007/01/sezioni/persone/salva-ragazzo-metropolitana/salva-ragazzo-metropolitana/salva-ragazzo-metropolitana.html>Vancouver and beyond it is.

"'Dovevo prendere una decisione rapida', ha raccontato l'uomo."

[The Xsociate]

"...and Autrey went on to work after going home to change his clothes."

Just another day for a this hero.

[Mnemosyne]

“Since I do construction work with Local 79, we work in confined spaces a lot. So I looked, and my judgment was pretty right. The train did have enough room for me.”

Can I say that I love him even more that he was able to use his area of expertise to save the guy and himself?

[The Phantom]

This story has made such an impression on me. I've been thinking of it a lot over the past couple of days. I made a point to stay in and watch Mr. Autrey's appearance on Letterman, which was wonderful.

Even here in Hawaii, the story has received plenty of cover in the local papers.

I may be the only contributor to this site who has set foot in a subway track. It was nothing constructive--in my early teens, my goofball friends and I thought it funny to jump down there and run around,just to say that we did it. It's a considerable distance from platform to track.

It's nearly inconceivable to think of an adult, a parent, going down onto the track with a train entering the station at speed, and the poor soul flapping around there.

Autrey was in the right place at the right time, and he knew exactly what to do, but he still could easily have died if Hollopeter had jerked up when the train was passing overhead ( a point made on Letterman )

This is the Good Samaratin, squared, multiplied by a billion. Mr. Autrey, I raise my glass to you.

[1984 Was Not a Shopping List]

Absolutely.

[cfrost]

"... and Autrey went on to work after going home to change his clothes."

Yep. That's how it's done!

[The Phantom]

Something that I've not seen mentioned--one of the people most grateful to Autrey is surely the subway motorman (engineer). Even though he would have been blameless, think what it would be like to be at the controls of a train that runs over and kills somebody.

[Alon Levy]

Autrey is not alone. In the South Bronx, two people strategically positioned themselves to catch a toddler who was holding to a fire escape railing and whose hold was slipping.

[Cass]

I guess it is a week for heroes, as well as melodramatic events.

[Cass]

This is the reason I'd never want to be a train driver, by the way, besides the foul language and morally questionable characters: you can't steer, and in the case of freight trains at least, it can take forever to bring it to a stop. I read something by a conductor once about the anxiety he feels when a car tries to sneak over the grade crossing just in front of his train (which apparently still happens pretty regularly).

[mijnheer]

I too am in awe of this man's brave action. Nevertheless, I can't help wonder whether his behaviour was wise, given that he put his two daughters at serious risk of losing their father. Didn't his obligation to stay alive for the sake of his children outweigh his obligation to rescue a stranger?

Of course, the whole thing happened so fast that Autrey may initially have thought he could rescue the man and get them both back up to safety before the train arrived, only to find himself trapped. But consider the heroism of non-Jewish parents who hid Jews from the Nazis during World War Two, thus putting their own children at risk. Those would not normally have been split-second decisions. One has the right, and sometimes perhaps even the duty, to put one's own well-being at risk, but when is one entitled, or even duty-bound, to put others at risk?

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Autrey arranged for some bystanders to watch his girls while he attempted the rescue. So, he wasn't risking their lives when he jumped in after the victim.

I don't think parents have an obligation to stay absolutely safe just because they have children.

[Clare]

There's a remarkable monument in a park in London -- can't recall the name off-hand -- that is made up of plaques commemorating acts of heroism in which people risked, or sometimes gave, their lives to save others. I think I'm right in my recollection that most of these efforts, perhaps all of them, were for complete strangers. In all the situations cited, as in this latest one on the subway, there was a great deal to lose by trying to save another person, and the losses may have extended to loved ones of the would-be rescuer; but then again, we do employ people to save lives professionally, or semi-professionally -- firefighters, mountain rescue squads, for example -- and we do not criticize them for risking the well-being of their families. In fact, we'd question our values as a society if there were not people willing to take on these kinds of jobs.

[mijnheer]

I wasn't suggesting Autrey was risking his children's lives, but he was putting them at severe risk of becoming fatherless, presumably at a young age. The risk he assumed for himself was considerably greater than that assumed by a firefighter, mountain rescuer, etc. Even a combat soldier in Iraq has a far better chance of homing home safe and sound than Autrey had. (That's why everyone, including me, is awestruck by what he did.) I agree that parents don't have an obligation to stay "absolutely safe" just because they have children. But that's not the issue. The issue is, do they have a prima facie obligation to avoid HUGE risks, and what circumstances might justify putting themselves (and thus their children's welfare) at huge risk?

[bourbaki]

This reminds me of Peter Kropotkin's Mutual Aid (that I read many years ago) the part that I particularly remembered is here (especially the paragraph about half way down the page starting "The Lifeboat Association in this country...").

[bourbaki]

This reminds me of Peter Kropotkin's Mutual Aid (that I read many years ago) the part that I particularly remembered is here (especially the paragraph about half way down the page starting "The Lifeboat Association in this country...").

[GerwingR]

The third rail. " blue light station " another part of this amazing story. even if it took 20 min of reaction time and shutdown of electricity. Some people are natual first responders.

[Cass]

I thought the third rail killed you on contact.