Exclusive: Acting NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban thanks officers who rescued man from subway tracks
NEW YORK -- Acting NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban was in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, on Friday to personally thank two NYPD officers who saved a man's life in the subway this week.
CBS New York's Hannah Kliger spoke one-on-one with Caban and those officers in an exclusive interview.
We showed you the body cam video earlier this week -- two NYPD officers jumping on the subway tracks to save a man who fell after suffering a medical episode on Monday.
- Read more: See It: NYPD officers save man who suffered medical episode and fell onto subway tracks in Brooklyn
Friday, Caban came to the 81st Precinct during roll call to personally thank officers Ramon Baez and Domonique Hall.
"The things that the public does not see -- obviously that one was a video, everyone got to see it -- but those are things that New York City police officers do day in and day out that get unnoticed," Caban said.
Baez, who has been with the NYPD for a year and three months, says it's his first rescue of this kind.
"We had to think fast and just, we jumped on the tracks, and it don't seem that high when you get there, but it was like up to here," he said, gesturing to his upper chest.
Hall, who went through the academy with Baez and started at the same time, says teamwork and adrenaline took over.
"We couldn't panic at that time, so I was just like-- 'cause once he laid down and he couldn't grab him up, I was like, 'Baez, we have to jump down.' I couldn't leave that guy down there. I would have felt bad if something happened to him," Hall said.
Because of their swift actions at the Utica Avenue station, officials say the 68-year-old man had a few cuts but was brought to the hospital alert and conscious and is expected to be OK.
For now, these two officers say being able to help in a situation like this is the reason they joined the department in the first place.
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