NBC

Young Man Leaps Onto Subway Tracks to Save Fallen Man as Train Approaches

"I went down immediately. He was too heavy to move, and I yelled for help because by that point, I could see the train"

A 19-year-old leaped into action when a man fell onto the subway tracks as a train was approaching in lower Manhattan, jumping down to move him out of the way before barely escaping the oncoming train. 

Police said a man in his 30s was waiting for the 6 train at Canal and Lafayette streets at around 8 p.m. Wednesday when he apparently became ill and began staggering, then fell.

"All of a sudden, before I knew it, he fell down on the track. He was sort of splayed across the track in the middle and wasn't moving," 19-year-old Nicholas Buxton told NBC 4 partner station Telemundo-47.

Buxton said he saw a train approaching and jumped onto the tracks to move the man who had fallen.

"I went down immediately. He was too heavy to move, and I yelled for help because by that point, I could see the train," he said.

Another man on the platform, Luis Figueroa, rushed over and told Buxton, "You gotta get him up, the train's coming." 

"I tried to lift him up again, I couldn't. So I instinctively pushed him under the track, under the platform, I saw there was a space there," said Buxton.

By then, the train was heading into the station and Figueroa began to grab at Buxton to hoist him back up.

"Luis said, 'Dude, you gotta get up, the train's about to arrive,' and he pulled me up. I was still pushing [the man] under, and Luis was like, 'You gotta go now,' and the train was already at the beginning of the platform," said Buxton. 

Figueroa said Buxton made it back onto the platform with moments to spare.

"He didn't know the train was there, so I was pulling him up. If I didn't pull him, the train hit him," he recalled.

The man on the tracks was taken to Bellevue Hospital with a broken arm, according to the FDNY. It's not clear why he fell.

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