Daily News Report: Structure Maintainer Saves Man Who Fell to Tracks at Jay St
A quick-thinking Structure Maintainer jumped to the tracks of a Brooklyn station Tuesday afternoon and saved a rider from certain death. The rider fell from a platform at the Jay St./MetroTech station and was lying unconsciously on the roadbed when Maintainer Roberto Ritcher came to his rescue at approximately 12:30 p.m.
Ritcher and another Good Samaritan managed to get the man – and themselves – back onto the platform just seconds before a Manhattan-bound A-train entered the station. “There’s no question that Roberto saved this man’s life,” Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Tony Utano said. “He’s a true TWU hero. He relied on his experience and training to prevent what would have been a horrible tragedy.”
Ritcher, 54, was sitting on a platform bench when he heard the sound of something hitting the ground behind him, followed by people screaming and shouting. “I turned around and I saw this guy lying on the tracks,” he said. “Everyone was freaking out. People were screaming but nobody was doing anything. I acted immediately. I jumped to the tracks and picked him up.”
The man was bleeding profusely from a head wound caused when he hit the roadbed. After Ritcher jumped to the tracks, a Good Samaritan also jumped to the roadbed to help lift the man to the platform, Ritcher said. Knowing full well dangers, Ritcher told the Good Samaritan to get back to the platform as quickly as possible. "Get your ass up there. Do it now," Ritcher said he told the “kid” in Spanish.
Paramedics arrived and whisked the injured man to the hospital. Ritcher’s shop is at 145th St. and St. Nicholas Ave. but a supervisor sent him to Brooklyn Tuesday morning to pick up mail from a NYC Transit building there. He was waiting for a train back to 145th St. when the accident happened. “He’s a good man,” Local 100 Structure Division Chair Richard Rocco said the 27-year transit veteran. “A good union man.”
A Daily News reporter happened to be on the platform at the time of the rescue and captured some of the drama on video. You can see it and read the full story here: https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-good-samartians-nyc-subway-track-fall-man-injured-20200908-gb6o5g6ynfbjbiqxkpjji6fj44-story.html