Stranger Saves Boy With Likely Autism After He's Found Alone On Subway Platform

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A stranger is credited with saving a child who appeared fascinated by trains, after police say the young boy managed to make it to a subway station alone.

CBS2's Lou Young spoke with the hero of the subway save about his warning to other parents.

The child was riding the J Train Monday afternoon. A boy 6 or 7 years old was stepping off at a subway stop to engage in a dangerous dance.

"He was literally just holding his foot over the edge of the train track," said the Good Samaritan, Matthew Sacks.

As young as he was and completely unattended, the boy seemed unafraid; fascinated with the subway trains, several times witnesses say he walked over to the edge of the platform like this and dangled his foot out over the tracks.

People told the boy to get back, but then he was on his own again. Mathew Sacks said he immediately recognized the outward signs of autism.

"He kept saying, 'train.' You know, he was flapping his arms back and forth," Sacks said. "My son's autistic, so I figured it's a sign of autism."

Sacks took a picture of the boy, and he immediately made a connection to his own son back home in Queens.

"I went over to him calmly, approached him, got him to calm down, got him to sit down with me, and I immediately called 911," Sacks said. "That's one of my biggest fears on account of a child with autism -- the fact that they have no fear."

The boy slipped away from his parents at a store in Brooklyn and took a train to Manhattan. He was found by Sacks just about the time police put out the missing child alert.

Police responded, and the boy was back with his parents before dinner.

Sacks' wife put the story up on Facebook as a warning to other families.

"In 30 minutes, you go from Bushwick to Lower Manhattan. I can't imagine in another hour where would he be," said Ladmilla Sacks. "That could've been us, and I'm grateful Matthew was there and he was helping. It could've been a bad ending, not a happy ending."

Sacks does not know the other family's name. Police said the boy was not missing long enough to warrant a report.

The Sacks family wants other parents to know their own son wears a tracker when he's out of the house.