Two New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers and a citizen are being praised for saving someone’s life on Thanksgiving Day.
The officers were patrolling the platform on the 116th Street station in East Harlem when the scene unfolded on the opposite platform, ABC 7 reported Friday.
When they heard a commotion, Officer Brunel Victor and his partner, Officer Taufique Bokth, ran up the stairs to the street and ran across to get to the other platform, where a train was expected in two minutes.
Video footage showed the officers entering through a gate to find a man laying on the tracks while another citizen tried to help him stand.
However, the officers jumped down onto the tracks and took hold of the man, who was apparently having difficulty moving, and lifted him up onto the platform to safety:
When Bokth’s gun belt caught on the edge of the platform as he tried to climb out, his partner and the citizen reached out to assist him.
“Our daily thing is to help people. We don’t care what if we have to put ourselves on the line. That’s why we do, that’s why we take this job,” Officer Victor explained.
In a social media post on Friday, Commissioner Keechant Sewell said, “For the @NYPD25Pct officers who rescued a man from an oncoming train after he accidentally fell on the subway tracks yesterday in Manhattan — the courage is second nature.”
The victim apparently experienced a medical episode at the station and suffered minor injuries in the fall but is expected to recover.
Meanwhile, the identity of the Good Samaritan remains a mystery, but Officer Bokth acknowledged his role in the rescue mission, stating, “I just wanted to say thank you to him.”
A similar incident happened last year when another NYPD officer saved an ill rider who fell off a platform as a train approached, CBS New York reported:
“I just saw somebody who needed my help and I reacted,” the officer said after the incident.
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