New York lauds subway rescuer
NEW YORK - A man's daring rescue of a teen who fell on the subway tracks earned him the unique title ``the hero of Harlem'' on Thursday, plus $10,000 from Donald Trump and a trip to Disney World.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg bestowed the title upon Wesley Autrey as he presented him with the city's highest award for civic achievement, calling the 50-year-old construction worker ``a great man - a man who makes us all proud to be New Yorkers.''
Past recipients of the bronze medallion have included Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali and Willie Mays.
On Tuesday, Autrey saw Cameron Hollopeter, a 19-year-old film student, suffering a seizure while waiting for a train. After stumbling down the platform, Hollopeter, of Littleton, Mass., fell onto the tracks with a train approaching.
Autrey, traveling with his two young daughters, said something needed to be done and he thought: ``I'm the only one to do it.''
He jumped down to the tracks, a few feet below platform level, and rolled with the young man into a drainage trough between the rails as the train came into the 137th Street/City College station.
Train cars passed over Autrey and Hollopeter with only a couple of inches to spare, but neither man suffered any harm from the incident. Hollopeter, hospitalized for his medical condition, was in stable condition on Thursday.
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He jumped the platform to save the guy even with the train incoming...thats gotta take some real courage...he got some pretty nice reward for it too...
Would you have the balls to do something that risky for someone you didnt even know or have done something like that already?