Good Samaritan reflects on near death experience after naked man electrocuted in subway fight
HARLEM, Manhattan (WABC) -- It is all still fresh in Tyler Horrell's mind.
As he stood on the platform at 110th Street/North Central Park, he thought about how just a day earlier, what began as an unprovoked attack between a rider and a naked man turned into a fight, sending that rider on the tracks.
"I feel like God put me in that place at that moment," said Horrell.
Horrell says the rider was motionless - and then he heard the train coming.
WATCH | Cellphone video captured the moment the man pushed the other rider onto the tracks with a train fast approaching:
Rider Lawreese Fluellen was also there as that train came to a screeching halt. He watched Horrell in a fight with the belligerent man, later identified as 33-year-old Malik Jackson, on the tracks.
"I see a gentleman out on the tracks, and there was another gentleman trying to help him, and then this naked guy just jumps down," said Fluellen.
Adrenaline kicked in quickly as Horrell shoved the suspect back.
Fluellen said the suspect tripped and fell, then hit the third rail and started getting electrocuted.
"Something I never experienced in my life, and hopefully to God, I never do again," said Horrell.
The suspect did not make it - and now Horrell also knows how close he came to death.
"It was the current coursing through his body, and my hand was in close proximity that I was able to feel it," he says.
On Sunday, Horrell played down what he did to save a stranger.
"I just saw it as an act of kindness," he said.
That one act of kindness in a city of millions is showing so much humanity.
"More needs to be done about mental health because a lot of people are dealing with it," Horrell added.
Police say the man he was helping is recovering and is expected to be okay.
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