The "week of heroes in New York"

Quote:

from http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/05/kid....ap/index.html
NEW YORK (AP) -- Two passers-by rescued a toddler who fell four stories, scrambling to catch him as he tumbled from a fire escape, police said.

Julio Gonzalez, 43, and Pedro Nevarez, 40, saw 3-year-old Timothy Addo dangling from a Bronx building on Thursday, police said. The boy had crawled out of a window when his baby sitter briefly took her eyes off of him, police said.

The crucial catch came two days after a bystander threw himself onto a Manhattan subway track to save a man who had fallen, and a day after three police officers delivered a baby on a Brooklyn subway platform.

"This is the week of heroes in New York," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

Quote:

from http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/03/sub....ap/index.html
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wesley Autrey faced a harrowing choice, as he tried to rescue a teenager who had fallen off a platform onto a subway track in front of an approaching train: Struggle to hoist him back up to the platform in time, or take a chance on finding safety under the train.

At first, he tried to pull the young man up, but he was afraid he wouldn't make it in time and they would both be killed.

"So I just chose to dive on top of him and pin him down," he said.

Autrey and the teen landed in the drainage trough between the rails Tuesday as a southbound No. 1 train entered the 137th Street/City College station.

The train's operator saw them on the tracks and applied the emergency brakes.

Two cars passed over the men -- with about 2 inches to spare, Autrey said. The troughs are typically about 12 inches deep but can be as shallow as 8 or as deep as 24, New York City Transit officials said.

Pretty awesome stuff. Contrasts well with the mindset people think is typical of New Yorkers - crass, uncaring, don't-look-them-in-the-eye-or-you'll-get-mugged, etc. Those of us who have lived there for any period of time know the stereotypes don't typically apply, but I wouldn't have expected the subway thing to happen. Good catch for those guys with the toddler, too - that would be pretty nerve-wracking, I would think. Wonder what'll happen to the babysitter. :/

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Well, they have his picture. He's also a construction worker, so you can imagine. I heard that his girls that were with him called their mom and told her that dad just jumped under a subway and was dead. I wonder what really happened, though, as that information came to me third-hand and I haven't found any record of that sort of conversation recorded online.

There's nowhere I can't reach.