Blind Man, 47, Stumbles Onto Subway Tracks And Survives Being Run Over By Metro Train
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A 47-year-old blind man accidentally walked off a Metro Red Line platform Thursday afternoon into the path of an oncoming train, according to authorities.
Miraculously, the train rolled over the man but he was barely scratched.
The man, walking with a cane, was on the eastbound side of the platform at the Wilshire Boulevard/Vermont Avenue station about 3:20 p.m. when he plunged over the edge, Metro spokesman Paul Gonzales said.
As the train operator pulled into the Wilshire station, he saw the man headed for the platform's edge. The operator sounded the horn to no avail, Gonzales said.
The man fell onto the tracks and the train, which could not stop in time, rolled over him. The man was laying flat, Gonzales said.
The Los Angeles resident ended up under the second car of a six-car train, he said.
Firefighters put the man on a backboard to pull him out, Gonzalez said.
The man had no visible injuries, but was taken to Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center to be checked out.
Gonzales said the Red Line resumed normal service at 4:05 p.m.
"If he would have fell a different way he could have been easily crushed under the train," Gonzales said. "It was a miraculous ending."
KCAL9's Juan Fernandez spoke to an eyewitness who shot video of the incident.
Christopher Vitiello told Fernandez everything happened very quickly.
"The driver put the emergency break on. Everyone was pretty shook up about it," Vitiello said, "It was a screeching stop."
He added, "It looked like oil on the floor. But it was blood."
The man was rushed into a waiting ambulance and taken to an area hospital. Fernandez said the man was injured by the fall but not seriously hurt.
