August 7, 2022 by Mark H. Anbinder in 14850 Today
A Cornell University senior who’s working for the summer at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City jumped down to pull a stranger off the subway tracks at a station in the Bronx after seeing the man “half fall, half stumble” onto the tracks on Thursday morning. Bryce Demopoulos rescued the stranger “seconds before an incoming train pulled into the station,” according to a statement from Cornell.
“I saw somebody who was obviously in trouble and I was in a position to help him,” said the Cornell student. “It didn’t really occur to me that it was dangerous in the moment – I just feel like I had the responsibility to just hop in and help him when he needed it.”
“I did hear a train getting louder and louder and I didn’t know if it was on that track or another track at first,” he told Washington Square News, NYU’s independent student newspaper. “I knew that I could get out of the way quickly, but I was worried about carrying him out.”
In a video recorded by MTA employee C. Perkins, Demopoulos is shown jumping down to the tracks, lifting the man, putting an arm around his back and helping him to his feet. He then holds out a hand for the man to step on so he can lift himself back on to the platform. Demopoulos quickly followed, with the lights of the incoming train visible behind him.
“I am shocked still by the decency, concern and genuine kindness that might lead one to risk such danger to help someone else,” the employee who took the video told Washington Square News. “The danger is not just the oncoming train – it is the large jump down, the third rail, the stranger putting his arm around you,” Perkins said. Perkins told Washington Square News that seeing people on the tracks is her “worst nightmare,” and said she yelled at the two men to get back onto the platform.
Perkins told WSN that her partner considered detaining the man who fell onto the tracks, but that they decided against it. After Demopoulos led the man to safety, Perkins added that the student gave the man a bottle of water and comforted him. Demopoulos told WSN that the MTA employees took his information but did not contact the New York City Police Department or take any further action. He said he had a conversation with the man he saved, who thanked him before making a joke and leaving.
Demopoulos, a biological and environmental engineering major in Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was visiting a friend, NYU student Andre Dubovskiy, who lives near NYU’s Washington Square campus. The two were heading to Weill Cornell, where Demopoulos works, and waiting at the Third Avenue — 138th Street Station when the incident occurred on Thursday morning.
Cornell says Demopoulos is working as a summer research intern in the stem-cell research lab of Dr. Shahin Rafii ’82, chief of the Division of Regenerative Medicine, director of the Ansary Stem Cell Institute, and the Arthur B. Belfer Professor in Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. The university adds that the senior “comes from a family of Cornellians, including his mother, Dr. Jacqueline Ehrlich ’89, M.D. ’93; his father, Dr. Byron Demopoulos, M.D. ’91, an associate professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine; and his sister, Sage Demopoulos ’22, a student at the College of Veterinary Medicine.”
“Looking back, I’ve never been in a situation like that before – it’s the kind of thing you read about in the papers,” Demopoulos told the Cornell News Service. “I’m glad that my first reaction was to act and do something.”
For more, follow 14850.com on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or subscribe to the 14850 Magazine Daily newsletter.
Dryden HS will welcome Poets Landing residents for showers Monday morning
Dwyer Dam Bridge reduced to one lane this week
Tower Road reduced to one lane Monday and Tuesday for limb pruning
Cornell student credited with saving man on subway tracks in NYC
Punk Rock Reunion show at Hopshire will support Ithaca Health Alliance
CHFD movie night canceled, series will wrap up next week
AFJ celebrates anniversary, new Ithaca office, with free event Sunday
Movies in the Park series starts Friday with free movies through August
Binghamton’s Spiedie Fest returns to August, with food and live music
First Look: Revelry Yards on Restaurant Row is both microbrewery and gastropub
Ithaca’s last Friendly’s Restaurant has closed its doors
Celebrating National Chicken Wing Day around the Ithaca area
Dryden HS will welcome Poets Landing residents for showers Monday morning
Dwyer Dam Bridge reduced to one lane this week
Tower Road reduced to one lane Monday and Tuesday for limb pruning
Cornell student credited with saving man on subway tracks in NYC
Heat advisory in effect 11am-8pm Sunday, says National Weather Service
January 19 update from Health Department on COVID-19 cases
Watch the presidential debate free at Ithaca’s Regal Cinemas
The judges and the people have spoken in the Downtown Ithaca Chili Cook-Off!
CTB and Ithaca Bakery will close indoor dining, hike wages, focus on employee safety in response to staff concerns
New ownership structure for Gimme! Coffee, now a staff-owner co-op
Copyright © 2022 | Theme by MH Themes