Exclusive: Horror, Heroism On The 3 Train
NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- Lives change in an instant, and sometimes in that instant heroes are made.
One man who was wounded during the Sheepshead Bay murder spree last weekend has a second chance at life now -- and he owes it all to a quick thinking stranger, who bravely stepped up.
"I knew I had to stop the bleeding. It was like boom, boom, like a heart pumping," Alfred Douglas told CBS 2's Kristine Johnson on Thursday.
Five days after he was viciously attacked on the subway, Philadelphia resident Joseph Lozito called the man who saved his life.
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"He said he didn't save my life, yet I think he did. I thanked him profusely and told him I owe my life to him," Lozito said.
Both men were on the number 3 train on Saturday when Maksim Gelman allegedly pulled out a knife and told Lozito he was going to die. What happened next was a fight for his life.
"Emotionally, I was angry," Lozito said.
But he was grievously wounded, deeply slashed around the head and neck. That's when Alfred Douglas sprung into action.
First, he used his bare hands to stop the flow and then a paper towel, all while trying get Lozito, now hysterical, to keep his cool.
"He was in bad shape. He was crying for his family: 'I have two boys. I don't want to die.' I tried to keep him calm," Douglas said.
But with the train still not moving, Douglas admitted he did think Lozito might not make it.
"We were there for a long time. I was worried he was gonna bleed to death," Douglas said.
Lozito, who himself was hailed a hero that day, said that's exactly what Douglas is to him. Still, Douglas shrugged off the accolade.
"I just did what any normal human being would do," Douglas said.
Ironically, it was a day off for Douglas, a supervising carpenter at the World Trade Center. But he said he wanted to check the job site and that's why he was on the subway.
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