A Great Neck man injured when he fall into a Long Island Rail Road gap was reunited Thursday with the veteran NYPD detective who stepped forward as his daring rescuer.
Ben Goldman, 92, fought back his emotions during a visit with Manhattan detective Neil Hicks.
"I have a lot to be grateful to you," Goldman said.
Hicks paid a call on Goldman and his wife Dorothy at their Great Neck home just days after rushing to aid the elderly man who fell to the tracks while exiting an LIRR train.
"He looks great and I am just glad he's okay," said Hicks.
Hicks was part of a group who pulled a bleeding Goldman from the tracks Sunday night; the father of three left the scene after the rescue without identifying himself.
Goldman suffered a slight concussion and broken cheekbone. From his hospital room two days after the incident, he and his wife of 65 years called on the good Samaritan to come forward so they could say thanks.
Hicks' wife saw the couple's plea in a news story aired on NBC New York on Tuesday, and Hicks called to identify himself later that night, making possible Thursday's reunion at the Goldman home in Great Neck.
Local
"I'm not much for a show of emotions," Dorothy Goldman told Hicks. "But inside my heart, if you only knew how I feel about you because you are so special."
Ironically, Hicks lives just blocks from the Goldmans. The more than 20-year NYPD veteran was on his way home from his Manhattan precinct aboard the same train from which Goldman fell.
Hicks stressed that he wasn't alone in aiding the 92-year-old victim.
"We knew we had to get him up. There was no other choice. So, it just happened," explained Hicks.
"When you help people like that, without thinking, that's marvelous," Dorothy Goldman said after hugging Hicks.
"I really appreciate him very much, exceptionally," added Ben Goldman, who later vowed to continue his twice monthly train trips to Manhattan with his wife.
