NEW YORK CITY, NY - Another case of police officers going above and beyond to serve their fellow man, this time in New York City. WABC-7 in New York spoke to two officers who rescued a man who fell onto subway tracks in the city in mid-February.
On February 18, the two officers–Travis Burks and Marvel Kingston–were on patrol at the subway stop located at West 181st and Fort Washington Ave when they suddenly heard a “thud.” That was when they discovered a man had fallen onto the southbound train tracks.
Bodycam footage obtained by the outlet showed the officers spring into action without hesitation to save the man. In less than one minute, the man was taken to safety.
“I jumped into the train tracks, and I picked the guy up; a civilian was trying to help as well, but he couldn’t support him, so I just picked him up and hoisted him to the platform,” Off. Burks said.
“This is what we signed up for, to help the people of New York,’ Kingston said.
The man, who was not identified, struck his head when he fell and was bleeding, however, he wasn’t seriously injured.
Recall that in 2019, progressive New York lawmakers, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, sought to have police removed from transit in the city and criticized a plan to add 500 additional officers to patrol the rails in the city. Ocasio-Cortez claimed that crime had decreased in the subway system, the New York Times reported at the time.
In January, amid a surge in crime in the subway system, the NYPD deployed a surge of up to 1,000 officers to the subways. The result was a fairly astounding 17.5% decrease in crime between Feb. 1-24.
Regardless, crime in the subway system is still up. Last week, NYPD reports a 45-year-old man, William Alvarez, was shot and killed during a fight on a D-train in the Bronx. The suspects in that case, Justin Herde, 24; Betty Cotto, 38; and Alfredo Trinidad, 42, were taken into custody by NYPD detectives Monday.
Fighting crime on the subways is a major focus of police, according to NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper.
“We ended January up 45% in crime versus the year before. And that 45% was driven in large part by grand larcenies. So, credit of our mayor and our police commissioner, we always say public safety is the top priority,” Kemper said. “After the month of January, significantly more resources, cops, tremendous investment was made. Just a couple of weeks ago, upwards of over a thousand additional cops assigned each day to the subway system.”
Last week’s shooting was the third homicide in the subway system in 2024.
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