Good Samaritans were seen on video leaping into action to save a man who collapsed onto subway tracks in Brooklyn, as a tourist put himself in harm's way in an act of bravery rescuing a complete stranger.
The scary incident occurred Wednesday morning, as Jordan Cannon was at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station. The 30-year-old professional rock climber from Las Vegas was visiting New York City to celebrate his birthday when he saw a man collapse on the opposite platform and fall onto the tracks.
"Too much time was going by, we don’t want to see somebody die on the subway in front of all this people," Cannon told NBC New York in an exclusive interview. "You don’t know how much time you have before a train comes."
Cannon said he didn't hear any trains coming and felt he had to do something, then a friend started to record the underground action. That cellphone video shows the moment when Cannon and two others hoisted the man up onto the platform.
"Bleeding from the head, very limp, felt like lifting up a dead body. I was definitely concerned," said Cannon.
After getting the unconscious man back to the safety of the platform, Cannon then came just inches away from imminent danger. As he raced back across the train tracks, he came incredibly close to touching the third rail. But Cannon was unaware of the dangers that the third rail carries in the NYC subway system, with up to 625 volts of electricity running through it.
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"I just thought if I step on the tracks it will be fine, so I wasn’t thinking about it all to be honest. Then somebody informed me about it later on that day and I felt really stupid," Cannon told NBC New York.
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Despite now knowing the risks of the danger that lurks on the tracks, Cannon said he would not hesitate to help again in the situation.
"I guess most New Yorkers know about that at this point. I mean, now I know, hopefully other people can learn from this as well," he said. "Trying to pay my dues as a visitor of New York...I encounter that in rock climbing all the time you can come close to death."
As for the man who was rescued, Cannon told News 4 that when police officers arrived at the station, the man was still breathing before getting rushed to the hospital with an injury to his head.
