Jan 16, 2007 3:37 pm US/Eastern
Subway Hero Wesley Autrey Honored By Spitzer
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ―
Subway hero Wesley Autrey was the somewhat uncomfortable subject of adulation Tuesday in Albany from Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the Legislature.
The state Assembly gave Autrey a large, framed proclamation detailing the Harlem hero's Jan. 2 dive in front of a subway train to save a young man he didn't know.
"This is beautiful," Autrey said of the proclamation. "But I still don't feel like a hero."
Asked to comment further, as he was hemmed in by Spitzer's door, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and TV news cameras, Autrey offered: "Bless New York City. Bless America. Bless God."
It was the latest stop for the "subway superman" since Jan. 2, when he saved a teenager who fell on the subway tracks. Autrey pushed him down into a trough between the rails, allowing an approaching train to pass right over them.
"An angel dropped down on 137th Street and Broadway ... and saved a man's life," said state Assemblyman Keith Wright of Harlem.
Autrey, a 50-year-old Vietnam veteran, said he has been in contact with the young man he saved, 19-year-old Cameron Hollopeter. Autrey said his family and the Hollopeters will soon get together.
"The young man is doing fine," Autrey said.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
