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Man Rescues Fallen Straphanger At 103rd St. Station

NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- An East Harlem produce clerk is being hailed as a hero after coming to the rescue of a man, who had fallen onto subway tracks at 103rd St. Station after an apparent seizure.

Around 8 a.m. Sunday morning, 36-year-old Carlos Flores, who was waiting for the number 6 Train to get to work, noticed a man sprawled out on the tracks with a train headed toward him.

"We seen he had a big gash on his head and he was bleeding a lot," Flores told CBS 2's Scott Rapoport.

Concerned over the man's condition, Flores leaped onto the tracks and pulled the victim off of the rails. But Flores said his motivation for the heroics was especially sparked by the need to get to work for his Sunday overtime shift at Gristedes supermarket, where he makes about $20 an hour.

"If this guy gets hit by the train, I wouldn't be able to make it to work. So I had to help him," Flores said.

Flores helped carry the man off the tracks, pushed him to the top of the platform and hopped onto the next train to work.

"In a way I do feel like a hero, but in a way I feel bad that I left the man on the platform. But I had to get to work," Flores said.

Flores said he still has no idea who the man was, but that saving his life was all in a day's work.

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