NYC man narrowly avoids being struck by subway train
NEW YORK -- A man fell onto New York's busy subway tracks, but pulled himself to safety just before he would have been struck by an oncoming train.
The unidentified man was waiting on a subway platform in Upper Manhattan during rush hour Tuesday evening when he suddenly tumbled over the edge and on the rails, injuring himself in the process.
"He fell on the tracks really hard. He had a huge bruise right here, bleeding from here, multiple lacerations," subway rider Geoffrey Croft told CBS New York.
As a train approached the frantic crowd waiting on the platform began to motion to the train operator to brake, and the train began to stop. All the while the bloodied and bruised man was able to pull himself off the tracks and back onto the platform before he was run over.
"He just lifted himself up. He lifted himself up over, and he was a mess," said Croft.
The man was then helped by onlookers, then by paramedics who carried him out of the subway station and to a hospital.
The incident is not unique, though and is one of many close calls in New York subways. Last year, a man was run over by a train as he jumped onto the tracks to retrieve his cellphone. Fortunately, he laid in the gap between the tracks and let the train pass over him.