This story is by Cara Buckley.
It was every subway rider's nightmare, times two.
Who has ridden along New York's 656 miles of subway lines and
not wondered: "What if I fell to the tracks as a train came in?
What would I do?"
And who has not thought: "What if someone else fell? Would I jump
to the rescue?"
Wesley Autrey, a 50-year-old construction worker and Navy veteran,
faced both those questions in a flashing instant yesterday, and
got his answers almost as quickly.
Mr. Autrey was waiting for the downtown local at 137th Street and
Broadway in Manhattan around 12:45 p.m. He was taking his
two daughters, Syshe, 4, and Shuqui, 6, home before work.
Nearby, a man collapsed, his body convulsing. Mr. Autrey and
two women rushed to help, he said. The man, Cameron Hollopeter,
20, managed to get up, but then stumbled to the platform edge and
fell to the tracks, between the two rails.
The headlights of the No. 1 train appeared. "I had to make a split
decision," Mr. Autrey said.
So he made one, and leapt.
Mr. Autrey lay on Mr. Hollopeter, his heart pounding, pressing him
down in a space roughly a foot deep. The train's brakes screeched,
but it could not stop in time.
Five cars rolled overhead before the train stopped, the cars passing
inches from his head, smudging his blue knit cap with grease.
Mr. Autrey heard onlookers' screams. "We're O.K. down here,"
he yelled, "but I've got two daughters up there. Let them know their
father's O.K." He heard cries of wonder, and applause.
Power was cut, and workers got them out. Mr. Hollopeter, a student
at the New York Film Academy, was taken to St. Luke's-Roosevelt
Hospital Center. He had only bumps and bruises, said his
grandfather, Jeff Friedman. The police said it appeared that
Mr. Hollopeter had suffered a seizure.
Mr. Autrey refused medical help, because, he said, nothing was
wrong. He did visit Mr. Hollopeter in the hospital before heading to
his night shift. "I don't feel like I did something spectacular;
I just saw someone who needed help," Mr. Autrey said. "I did what
I felt was right."
It does not take an extraordinary person to do something extraordinary. No one is "born" a hero, although some would like to think so. Everyone has a choice in life to become a hero. If you pass it down, another might be handed to you in the future, but you may never get the chance to do something heroic again.
It may seem like a small issue at the time (although the one above was not as small), but when you look back, people will be calling you a hero. It just takes time, and the right choice.