Posted on 04/19/2015 6:46:13 AM PDT by JoeProBono
CENTER CITY (WPVI) -- Action News has obtained video of the moment a SEPTA commuter stumbled onto the subway tracks after getting too close to the edge Wednesday night.
Seconds later a Good Samaritan springs into action, risking his own life to save a stranger.
It happened around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on the westbound Market-Frankford El tracks at 15th Street Station.
28-year-old Charles Collins of South Philadelphia can be seen in the video wearing an Eagles jacket, walking away from the camera.
Moments later an older man, identified as Alfred McNamee, is seen walking near the SEPTA platform's yellow line. He then takes a misstep and tumbles onto the tracks.
Some horrified witnesses run, but Collins disregards his own safety and jumps onto the tracks to lift McNamee to safety as other witnesses help pull both of them off the tracks.
Collins tells Action News, "I just saw him down and jumped down... just instincts."
Collins suffered a minor leg injury, but McNamee's injuries are serious. In the tumble of five feet straight down he suffered a broken back, a shattered knee, broken ribs, and a severe injury to his spleen that may require surgery.
Collins went to the hospital Thursday to check up on McNamee, but he is refusing to call himself a hero.
"No I'm not a hero. I mean, people do the same thing," he said.
SEPTA says Collins' actions were noble and courageous, but they'd prefer it be handled another way.
SEPTA Police Inspector Steve Harold says, "There's procedures in place that we would like him to also alert the cashier right away, because that will stop trains from coming in. And alert the police officer, who was actually up by the cashier area."
Heres hoping someone values having a guy around who does the right thing, not the easy thing, and hires this young man.
Good Samaritan indeed!
SEPTA Police Inspector Steve Harold is a serious idiot.
Was there a train pouring down on them? Otherwise I’d say only someone either incredibly lazy or evil would’ve left him there .
Ok, somebody needs to hire this hero NOW.
He’s proven he’s qualified.
Quick thinker,
Quick to take action,
Willingness to help without regard for his own safety,
Humble,
Reliable!
Sign him up!
I, and three quarters of the people who read this agree with you. Why would Inspector Harold even open his mouth about this? By the time the young man in the Eagles jacket went to the cashier’s booth, told him or her, and they reacted, the guy on the tracks would have been smushed.
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