NYPD ESU officers detail rescue of woman pushed on subway tracks | Exclusive
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- In exclusive police body camera video shared with Eyewitness News, NYPD officers can been seen jumping into action to save a woman who was trapped between two train cars and lucky to be alive.
The video from the attack earlier this month showed the NYPD officers were well aware that every second mattered.
"She asked if she was going to die, I told her, 'You are not going to die, you will be alright,'" Officer Frank Sarro said.
The woman was alive on the tracks underneath a No. 3 train at the Fulton Street station. She was wedged between two train cars.
"She's probably going to be in pretty bad shape," Sgt. Matthew Tocco said.
Sarro explained that her left leg was impacted and her right leg was cut at the ankle.
Authorities say Christian Valdez, 35, had pushed his girlfriend off the platform. A train then hit the 29-year-old woman. Valdez is facing a charge of attempted murder, and police say this was not his first violent crime.
Officers with the department's Emergency Service Unit were on duty. They walked Eyewitness News through their methodical response.
Officer Joseph Petronio had only been with the elite team for three weeks.
"You know there's a possibility of saving someone, so you want to get there as quickly as possible," Petronio said.
It's something they train for. The officers are called in and carry out some of the most extreme maneuvers.
This was precisely that.
"We could see her head and body but we couldn't see her lower extremities," Petronio said.
Firefighters were already down on the tracks with the victim, near her head.
Officer Sarro approached from the opposite end of the train.
"I immediately get under the train of the next car, crawled up to where the aided is, and assess that one limb is missing and her foot is off the other leg," Sarro said.
Still under the train, on his hands and knees, Officer Sarro got to the woman.
"I crawled about one car and applied tourniquets to her lower extremities because she was bleeding pretty good out of her legs," Sarro said.
In the very confined space, Sarro's partner applied a second tourniquet and along with firefighters, got the woman out from under the train.
"It's horrible, to be a victim of a crime and now she'll never be the same now," he said.
These officers hope to one day meet the woman they reassured would not die on their watch. She's now recovering in the hospital.
"The fact that my first one was someone who actually survived is a good feeling," Petronio said.
What these officers do every day in real life is the inspiration behind some of television's biggest dramas, including ABC's "9-1-1."
"It's a great job and people want to see it and get to be a part of that so it's exciting," Petronio said.
Season 7 of "9-1-1" premieres Thursday, March 14 at 8p/7c on ABC.
The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of ABC and this ABC station.
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