First NYPD officers at scene of subway derailment describe rescue efforts
NEW YORK - Two NYPD officers who were first on the scene of the subway collision and derailment recounted the dramatic rescue.
They helped get passengers to safety, and spoke about how their routine day on the job quickly changed.
The first subway riders rescued from the derailed subway train Thursday saw the faces of Officer Marc O'Connor and Officer Antonia Ocasio the moment the doors were forced open.
"We were able to open one of those train cars and get everybody off that first car," O'Connor said.
"We helped them exit," Ocasio said.
The two officers are both with the Transit Bureau.
"They were super grateful," Ocasio said.
The officers usually do explosives detection. In an instant, they had to pivot to something completely different.
There were four officers on the mezzanine of the 96 Street subway station, when you include the two canine ones: Tasso and Mikey are instrumental during the routine explosive sweeps officers Ocasio and O'Connor carry out every workday.
The job changed when a subway rider ran up to them to say two trains collided on tracks below the mezzanine.
"He sounded a bit panicky," Ocasio said. "We did secure the dogs in the vehicle."
"We want to be able to have both our hands," O'Connor said. "Once we were able to clear everybody off the first few train cars in the front, we continued our canvas toward the front of the train. The first train car, there was still about 30ish people in there that were trapped inside that train car."
"This is my job. This is what we do. We are here to help," Ocasio said.
"I think we did a great job, along with the assistance of the FDNY and our ESU, and all our coworkers. It was a great job," O'Connor said.
Transit Chief Michael Kemper agrees.
"They were in the right place, right time, within seconds to help literally hundreds of people," Kemper said. "Yesterday's event was just one example of what New York City cops do every single day."
Tasso and Mikey seem glad to be back working right next to their partners - officers, ready to respond to anything.
