Subway Superhero Saves Teenager

New York: Cameron Hollopeter and Wesley Autrey were strangers but that didn't stop Autrey, a 50 year old Vietnam War veteran, from jumping in front of an oncoming subway train to save the young man's life.

Hollopeter, 19, collapsed while waiting for a subway at Manhattan's 137^th Street/City College station. His body fell to the tracks below in front of other commuters including Autrey's young daughters Syshe, 4, and Shuqui,6.

Autrey's only pause was to entrust another stranger, social worker Patricia Brown, with his two girls before bravely diving to help Hollopeter who was suffering from a seizure.

Once on the tracks, Autrey realized there was not enough time to hoist the young man out of harm's way and back onto the platform. With quick instinct, Autrey rolled with him into a drainage trough between the rails. He pinned the young man's body down with his own allowing the oncoming train to pass over them sparing both their lives within miraculous inches.

Deepti Hajela of the Associated Press reported that the train's operator saw the men on the tracks and although the emergency brakes were engaged, two cars passed over the men before the train stopped.

Once the two men emerged from beneath the train, witnesses cheered and hugged Autrey. Cameron Hollopeter was taken to the hospital where he was later reported to be in stable condition.

After learning about the ordeal, Hollopeter's stepmother hailed Wesley Autrey as "an angel." The Vietnam veteran shrugged off praise in an interview with the New York Times saying "I don't feel like I did something spectacular; I just saw someone who needed help. I did what I felt was right."

Source: Man saves teenager who fell on subway track, Deepti Hajela, AP, January 3, 2006.