A man in a wheelchair rolled on to the tracks at
Washington, DC’s, U Street Station, but he was rescued by bystanders before any
harm could come to him. The video shows his rescuers acting fast, fearing an
approaching train.
Staff on Tuesday afternoon told the Washington Post
the man was breathing, with some cuts and bruises to his face. The video shows
the wheelchair slowly careening off the platform and on to the tracks. Luckily,
it missed the third rail, which is live.
RT.com report continues:
As soon as they saw what happened and the man lying
motionless with his wheelchair by his side, two men jumped down to the tracks.
It took them about half a minute to hoist the man up and manage to get his
wheelchair back on to the platform.
The next train happened to be three stations away, as luck would have it.
Subway officials acknowledged the bravery of the
disabled man’s rescuers, but cautioned commuters to wait for the station
manager to cut the power to the third rail when accidents of this sort take
place. Spokesman Dan Stessel clarified that the man “was not in imminent danger of being struck by a train,” but the
third rail was live when all three were down on the tracks.
The wheelchair victim turned out to be familiar to staff
at the station and neighboring businesses.
“He’s a regular down here
as well,” an employee with ‘& Pizza’ told NBC over by the 13th Street
entrance to the subway. “We see him
all the time. He comes to & Pizza. He’s a good guy, so I’m glad they rescued
him, took care of him.”
None of the individuals were identified.
The
man was taken to a hospital to care for his injuries, spokesman Mike Tolbert
told the Washington Post. He did not clarify how the wheelchair ended up on the
tracks in the first place.
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