Man Hailed As Hero After Saving Woman From LIRR Tracks
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A man is being called a hero for helping a woman who fell onto the tracks after she was attacked at a Long Island Rail Road station.
The 28-year-old Smithtown woman was punched in the face and then fell face-first onto the tracks after she accidentally bumped into a man on the platform of the Central Islip station Wednesday morning, according to witnesses.
With less than two minutes before the train got to the station, commuter Martin Diaz quickly sprang into action.
"I just jumped onto the tracks and I woke her up, and she was still in a fog," Diaz said. "I just grabbed her by her waist and picked her up. When I picked her up the other commuters just pulled her up to safety."
Diaz said he just reacted and never realized the train was so close.
"I saw myself in a situation, and that's when another commuter grabbed my hand and brought me up," Diaz said.
The victim, the mother of a 3-month-old, was bleeding from her face and panicking when she was brought to safety. She was treated at a local hospital and released.
"I didn't even realize my hands were all full of blood, my sweater all full of blood," Diaz told CBS2's Jennifer McLogan. "Fellow coomuters grabbed napkins and wipies."
A surveillance camera image -- and witness clues -- led MTA police to arrest Troy Liddell, 34, of Central Islip. He is charged with reckless endangerment and assault.
One of his relatives told McLogan, "It's in God's hands."
"I'm happy that they caught the guy, and I really hope that he's put away and not given a chance to do this to someone else," said Carol Ferrulli, the victim's mother.
The victim's husband said his wife just saw a spine specilaist and is in a lot of pain.
Said Diaz: "It could have happened to my wife or my sister. So I'm very happy that she's OK. I am looking forward to seeing her."
The recovering victim, too, hopes soon to have a reunion with Diaz to personally thank her hero for risking his life to save hers.