Results tagged “wesleyautrey”

An off-duty firefighter got called into action Friday night when he ended up pulling a Wes Autrey and jumping down on the tracks to rescue a man who had fainted and was laying unconscious on the tracks just as an uptown Q train began pulling into the Union Square station. 30-year-old Adam Rivera, originally of Bay Ridge, had been out in the East Village getting Indian food with his girlfriend to celebrate their seventh anniversary. The couple was heading home to the Upper West Side when Rivera spotted 45-year-old Marco Delamo on the tracks. The firefighter out of Engine 10 in lower Manhattan told reporters, "People were panicking, but nobody was doing anything...I thought to myself, 'This is my job — I'm a New York City firefighter, and I have to do something...There was no time to be afraid. You can't waste time hesitating. You just move, and the thinking stops...Being right there in a position to help — that's why I joined the department." Rivera and two other men lifted Delamo to the platform before he was taken to St. Vincent's intensive care with head injuries.

Watch out, Wes Autrey. There's a new subway hero in town—and he's not afraid to go under the Hudson River. Terrence Kelsor, a PATH security guard, spotted a drunk man stumble onto the tracks of the Christopher Street station late Friday night and was able to lift him to safety moments before a train arrived. The unknown victim stumbled back into the night after being rescued. Kelsor describes him as so intoxicated that "you could smell it coming out of his pores." The News says that the man who fell was over 250 pounds, while Kelsor only checks in at 5'7" and 170 pounds. The Newark man told the paper, "Somehow, I had superhuman strength. It was by the grace of God. It could have been his life. It could have been mine. Both our lives were in jeopardy." If there was any doubt to his bravery, even an Iraq vet confirms it. A witness from the Army Corps of Engineers said, "He didn't hesitate. I hesitated, and I just got back from Iraq."

Subway hero Wesley Autrey isn't done being a public figure yet. While being interviewed by the Daily News to commemorate the second anniversary of his famous rescue of a man who had fallen onto the tracks and into the path of an oncoming train, Autrey mentioned, "I would like to do a couple of commercials for Subway sandwiches." Being a hero and all, naturally his motivation for doing them would be to raise money for his foundation that works with troubled youths. For the first time since his memorable leap at the 137th Street 1 train station, Autrey was reunited with the man he saved, film student Cameron Hollopeter. It wasn't exactly The Gift of the Magi, but the two exchanged presents. Autrey passed along a reproduction of a painting inspired by their encounter, "A Hero/Angel Is Born," while Hollopeter brought a framed picture of himself, sitting at a piano. Autrey took a break from his construction job to tell the News, "We've more or less adopted each other. I told my daughters, 'You've got a new uncle now.'"

2007 subway hero Wesley Autrey announced plans yesterday that he is forming a foundation to help rescue kids from the trouble they run into on the streets. Autrey rescued a man having an epileptic seizure last year by jumping onto a subway platform and pulling him underneath an oncoming 1 train and won the hearts of the city and beyond. That act of bravery has been depicted in paintings by Haitian-born artist Smith Georges and will be sold for $25 each to fund the organization. Autrey said, "I want to take this hero thing to another level. We can rescue kids from guns, drug, gangs, violence."

On January 2, after seeing a young man have a seizure and fall into the 1 subway tracks at at the 137th Street station just as a train was entering the station, construction worker Wesley Autrey jumped in and covered the other man's body with his own. The train passed over them and a hero was born.

A woman shoved into the Brooklyn-bound Q train tracks at Union Square was saved by two bystanders on Monday night. Suzanne Trotman only suffered bruises as she was pulled from the tracks less than a minute before a train pulled in. Two people, a man and a woman, jumped into the tracks to help Trotman out. Trotman told the Post she 'got up really quickly," adding, "Good thing I didn't get knocked out... I kept...

(No matter what your mode of conveyance, we hope your Memorial Day Weekend is an excellent one and that you ride or drive safely. We will be here, offering fresh content throughout the weekend.)

A look at some noteworthy television this week:

Time announced its second Time 100 list of influential people. (For whatever reason, Time doesn't provide a full list with separate links to all the influentials, so here's a list from FishbowlNY.) Based on our reading, the New Yorkers (and we're including some people who live in Westchester, but work in the city) who made the list include 30 Rock's Tina Fey, subway superhero Wesley Autrey, Senator Hillary Clinton, banker Stephen Schwartzman, director Martin Scorsese, Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, actress-comedian-talk show host Rosie O'Donnell, the American Museum of Natural History's Neil DeGrasse Tyson, actor and stem cell research advocate Michael J. Fox, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who appears in the upper right corner of the cover.

Well, this is a sad, but almost predictable result of sudden fame. Wesley Autrey, the subway superhero, is now suing his lawyers. Autrey claims that his lawyer, a movie agent, and the agent's production company pressured him into signing a contract. From the Daily News:

The other day, we were listening to the radio and heard an ad with Wesley Autrey, the city's beloved subway hero! Autrey has done a series of public service announcements with the city's health department to encourage New Yorkers over 50 to get screened for colon cancer. From the DOH statement:

"I’m an average New Yorker over the age of 50 who could be at risk of colon cancer," said Autrey. "That’s why I’m joining this campaign. I’m very happy to be able help get this message out about colon cancer to maybe help save more lives – and I don’t have to jump onto the subway tracks to do it!"

Aw, gotta love him. There are not only radio ads, but subway and taxi ads, too.

Forty-six-year-old Paul Torres fell into the downtown 2 tracks at Penn Station right before a train arrived. Luckily, he somehow managed to avoid being hit by rolling in between the tracks. Torres was taken to Bellevue in "serious condition with possible head trauma". While he couldn't remember how he fell (police do not believe he was pushed), Torres was able to say he was happy to be alive. Well, at least when the Daily News asked him if he was happy in the emergency room, he said "Yes."

We had Wesley Autrey, Subway Hero, last month, and this month, we've got... Stuart Tito, Toddler Commuter! The Daily News talks a family whose 22-month-old son took the 7 train all by himself. Yeah, we were amazed too - the 7 was actually running!

Note to all politicians: If you need a shot of adrenalin at one of your events, get subway superhero Wesley Autrey on board. Because when President Bush cited Autrey's amazing rescue of another subway rider who had fallen into the tracks, we feel that Autrey brought down the house. Bush said:

Three weeks ago, Wesley Autrey was waiting at a Harlem subway station with his two little girls, when he saw a man fall into the path of a train. With seconds to act, Wesley jumped onto the tracks, pulled the man into the space between the rails, and held him as the train passed right above their heads. He insists he's not a hero. He says: "We got guys and girls overseas dying for us to have our freedoms. We have got to show each other some love." There is something wonderful about a country that produces a brave and humble man like Wesley Autrey.

Autrey waved the crowds, seemed to mouth "You the man" to the President, and shook the hands of First Lady Laura Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney's wife Lynne. (Autrey's youngest daughter seemed to be sleeping.)

At the podium with his highest approval ratings ever, Mayor Mike gave his annual State of the City address and outlined an agenda that will dictate his last three years in office and most likely, his legacy. Some of these items include passing $1 billion in tax cuts (including $750 million in property tax and eliminating sales tax on clothing and shoes), improving the school system, pursuing anti-gun laws, and continuing development projects across the city. In fact, his recommendations to continue school reform were the first things he mentioned, from further empowering principals to do a better job retaining good teachers (and getting rid of tenure), and shifting funding to students, instead of schools, and grading the schools themselves..

New York City still can't enough of Wesley Autrey's subway heroics. Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg awarded him with the city's highest honor, the Bronze Medallion, and said:

Wesley's astonishing bravery - saving a life in the face on an oncoming subway car - is an inspiration not just to New Yorkers, but the entire world. His courageous rescue of a complete stranger is a reminder of how we are surrounded by everyday heroes in New York City, and I am deeply honored to recognize one of them today.

It's so true - Gothamist loves the story because it's incredible on so many levels that everything worked out so well. The young man Autrey shielded from the oncoming train, Cameron Hollopeter, is safe. Autrey is safe. And Autrey has continued to emphasize how New Yorkers just need to help each other more often:

I'm not looking at this like I'm the hero, cause the real heroes are the young men and women that are fighting in Iraq now. What I did is something that any New Yorker should do, you know what I'm saying, if you see somebody in distress, do the right thing.

On the Late Show with David Letterman last night, Autrey pointed out that there were many people on the subway platform, but only three people - himself and two women - went to help Hollopeter during his first seizure on the platform.

Two days after Wesley Autey jumped into subway tracks to save another straphanger from an oncoming train, everyone still wants to hear his story. With good reason: Not only is it an incredibly heroic story, Autrey's matter-of-fact explanation for his actions ("it's just being able to be here and help the next person.") and his humble demeanor:

"I don't think I did anything heroic. I just saved a life. I don't call myself a hero because the real heroes are overseas dying for you and me."

Autrey was on CBS's Early Show, which had a crazy computer re-creation of the save. And the re-creation doesn't even show how the savee, NY Film Academy freshman Cameron Hollopeter, was having a seizure at the time!

The story about Wesley Autrey jumping into the subway tracks yesterday afternoon to save a fellow straphanger at the 137th Street downtown 1 platform gets more amazing. It turns out that Autrey and two other women had helped 20 year old Cameron Hollopeter right before the fall - Hollopeter had a seizure and Autrey used a pen to keep his mouth open. They called for a station agent's help, but Hollopeter got up and stumbled into the tracks before help came.

Gothamist has received a report that two people were struck by a downtown 1 train at the 137th Street-City College station this afternoon. Because of this, there are currently delays with the downtown 1 line suspended from 168th Street to 96th Street at this time.