Jan 4, 2007 2:39 pm US/Eastern
NYC Subway Savior: 'I'm Not A Hero'
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
The construction worker who rescued a stranger from an oncoming subway train has become a national hero. But Wesley Autrey doesn't see it that way.
"I'm still saying I'm not a hero ... 'cause I believe all New Yorkers should get into that type of mode," he said on CBS' "The Early Show" Thursday. "You should do the right thing."
On an interview that aired on ABC's "Good Morning America": "I don't want people to blow this out of proportion."
Nonetheless, Autrey's phone has been ringing off the hook -- some of the callers complete strangers so inspired by his bravery that they offered rewards. Autrey even got a call from Donald Trump's people, offering a $10,000 check. Besides appearing on several morning television shows Thursday, he was set to tape an appearance on David Letterman's CBS "Late Show" and visit City Hall to be honored by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Quite the day for the 50-year-old construction worker and father of three.
It's all hitting me now," Wesley Autrey said Wednesday as he reflected on his risky rescue of a 19-year-old who had fallen onto a subway track as a train was approaching.
Looking back on his dramatic decision to jump onto to the tracks and push the young man into a gap between the rails, Autrey said he told himself, "Wow, you did something pretty stupid."
But even knowing that he narrowly escaped injury or potentially death, the 50-year-old Harlem construction worker doesn't regret his choice.
"I did something to save someone's life," Autrey said.
Waiting for a downtown Manhattan train, he saw Cameron Hollopeter, a film student, suffering from some kind of medical episode. After stumbling down the platform, Hollopeter, of Littleton, Mass., fell onto the tracks with a train on its way into the station.
Autrey, traveling with his two young daughters, knew he had to do something.
"If I let him stay there by himself, he's going to be dismembered," the Navy veteran remembered thinking.
He jumped down to the tracks, a few feet below platform level, and rolled with the young man into a drainage trough -- cold, wet and more than a little unpleasant smelling -- between the rails as the southbound No. 1 train came into the 137th Street/City College station.
The train's operator saw someone on the tracks and put the emergency brakes on. Some train cars passed over Autrey and Hollopeter with only a couple of inches to spare, but neither man suffered any harm from the incident.
Hollopeter was taken to a nearby hospital; Autrey refused medical attention -- and then went to work.
Autrey went by the hospital on Wednesday afternoon for a visit with Hollopeter and his family. Afterward, he and Hollopeter's father addressed reporters.
"Mr. Autrey's instinctive and unselfish act saved our son's life," dad Larry Hollopeter said, his voice choking up. "There are no words to properly express our gratitude and feelings for his actions."
The unusual rescue with its happy ending brought the media horde to Autrey. He spent the day doing interviews, mainly at his mother's apartment, where his sister Linda had been pressed into service as phone answerer and scheduler. Calls came in from all over the country, offering rewards, as people found themselves inspired by Autrey's bravery.
His mother was beaming over him.
"It was dangerous, what he done, but I'm proud of him, that God had him in the right place at the right time so he could help somebody," Mary Autrey said. "That's our upbringing, helping people."
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
