January 28, 2008
Transplant Saves Life!
One very new New York resident has been given a crash course on city living. Kevin, the blogger at Naked Sponge, just moved here a week ago from Canada and he's already jumped into the subway tracks to save a life! Something that could possibly help him in his apartment hunt (nothing says "perfect tenant" like a Post headline calling you a hero). He explains his underground adventure:
See, I was waiting for the L train at 3rd Avenue just minding my own business when this lovely lady in her 50’s decides to peer down the track to see how far away the oncoming train is. You know the one I’m talking about; the one with the 6 foot drop from the platform that leads down to two metal rails? When all of a sudden… she falls over the edge.He also did some first aid, so it looks like we gained a good one when he moved to town. The woman (who was bleeding a lot from the head) was eventually left in the care of the paramedics, and Kevin has since learned about the whole 3rd rail thing (which he's guessing is what prevented others from diving in to save the woman when she fell). He also learned that while riding a crowded subway car covered in blood...people make room for you.She hammers the back of her head on the second rail and goes basically limp. I figure the next train is about 60 second away, so I immediately leap over the edge and basically break all forms of first aid protocol. I quickly weigh the odds - she COULD have a spinal injury that I’m aggravating, but I’m going to assume that a POSSIBLE injury is less dangerous than the CERTAIN DEATH she’s going to face when she gets run over by the L train. So I haul her up on my shoulder, at which point she comes too, and I quickly get her back to the edge and holler at a couple of dudes to grab her arms and pull her up.
Here's a guide on where you can get CPR training in the city.
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She came "too?" Right on his shoulder while he was helping her back up onto the platform? Is this some kind of sequel to Crash?
HURRAY!
so how hard is it to get yourself back up on the platform? how tall / strong is Kevin?
isn't the third rail always the big, thickest rail furthest from the platform?
4. Yes.
the third rail is also covered on top, but exposed on the sides, right?
Is he single? I have three daughters.
Its not that hard to get back up. I had a similar thing happen with a homeless guy about a year and a half ago. Me and another guy jumped down and grabbed him, and we were both out of the tracks again within 15 seconds. I did manage to knock the hell out of my knee while hopping back onto the platform, though.
Is it true that Kevin called Mary-Kate Olsen before taking action??
goya51: I think it really depends on the station. Someone I know dropped his Blackberry down on the tracks and hopped down to get it. Lame, I know... but he said that he had a really hard time getting back up (and he is not old or in bad shape).
It might interest some folks to know that Kevin might be better known as Johnny Johnny from TikiBarTV.
Willing to jump on the tracks to help a stranger? Better ask for at least 2 month's security.
Decent
Damn Transplants! Moving to the city, saving unconscious people on the tracks! I liked old New York better when you had to manually power the subway with a hand pump, and good folks left each other on the tracks and minded their own business!
It's not that climbing up onto the subway platform is difficult because the platform is so high, but it's an awkward maneuver you need to work out to get back up there. You sort of have to jump up, swing one leg onto the platform, and half shimmy/roll over the rest of your body. I guess if you're super strong you could press yourself up, or if you're Manute Bol can just step onto the platform as well.
Wait... did this guy take a picture of himself while the police are back there administering to the old lady?
Just like an off-the-boat Canuck to go and do something all heroic and make us native New Yorkers look like dithering a-holes. Look pal, pack up you hero act and go home to Ohio, or whatever country that isn't here you're from, and stop driving up our rents with your decency and life-saving behavior. Unless you plan on shooting up in my hallway and pissing in my vestibule, we don't want you here.
I know that emilydickinson has my back on this, so watch yours, 'cause that poet will cut you.
We taking illegals from the North, eh?
emilydickinson: I think you'd be amazed at how much adrenalin you have in a situation like this. What might seem difficult in a normal situation is quite doable when you're afraid a train might come and kill you.