wesley autrey
LIVE(selfless)
Nature's Hope
Notebook Set
shop now
shop now
WESLEY AUTREY
Wesley Autrey dubbed by the media as the "Subway Superman" and "The Hero of Harlem," and by himself as the "Subway Hero" is a New York construction worker and Navy veteran who achieved international recognition after he saved Cameron Hollopeter, a 19-year-old film student who had suffered a seizure and fallen onto the tracks, from being struck by a New York City subway train.
On January 2, 2007, Autrey was waiting for a subway with his two young daughters. He and two women noticed a young man, Cameron Hollopeter, having a seizure. Autrey borrowed a pen from someone and used it to keep Hollopeter's jaws open. Following the seizure, Hollopeter stumbled from the platform, falling onto the tracks.
As Hollopeter lay on the tracks, Autrey saw the lights of an incoming train. As one of the women held Autrey's daughters back away from the edge of the platform, Autrey dove onto the tracks. He thought he would be able to take Hollopeter off the tracks, but he realized there was not enough time to drag Hollopeter away. Instead, he protected Hollopeter by throwing himself over Hollopeter's body in a drainage trench between the tracks, where he held him down. The operator of the train applied the brakes, but two cars still passed over them, close enough to leave grease on his cap.
Autrey told The New York Times. “I don’t feel like I did something spectacular; I just saw someone who needed help. I did what I felt was right.
WHO IS YOUR HERO?
