NYPD Officer Saves Suicidal Man Who Tried To Jump In Front Of L Train At 14th Street
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Talk about "New York's Finest."
An NYPD officer saved a homeless man who tried to kill himself by leaping in front of an oncoming train Friday morning, police said.
Officer Carlos Guzman was on a routine patrol of the L train subway station at 1st Avenue and 14th Street when he saw a man walk up to the edge of the platform as a train was rushing into the station.
"He sat down with his feet dangling off the ledge, and he was pushing off his hands to go down," Guzman said. "I grabbed onto his shirt and dragged him."
Passengers on the platform watched the two struggle.
"Other passengers were screaming. I didn't see anybody come over to help me," Guzman said. "He kept trying to pull down. He was saying to me, 'No matter what you do, I am going to go and grab the third rail.'"
The suicidal man, 48, was about 6 feet tall and 250 pounds, roughly the same size as Guzman.
"We struggled back and forth, he kept trying to push me off, to go back to the train tracks, and eventually [backup arrived and] I was able to pin him down," Guzman said.
"After he finally calmed down a little bit, I started talking to him," Guzman said. "He couldn't tell me why. I kept telling him, 'Listen, whatever reason you have for wanting to kill yourself, it's not worth it. That's the easy way out.'"
The man was taken to Beth Israel Hospital.
"After I left him he was thanking me," Guzman said. "He thanked me for saving his life."
Guzman was rewarded for his hard work: His bosses sent him home from work early.
Guzman is 27 years old and has been on the force for four-and-a-half years.
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