Hero officers speak out after rescuing man from subway tracks in Washington Heights
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, Manhattan (WABC) -- Two hero NYPD officers are speaking out after they rescued a man who fell onto the subway tracks in New York City.
Travis Burks and Marvel Kingston say they were just doing their job and were in the right place at the right time.
A week ago on Feb. 18 at the West 181st and Fort Washington Avenue train stop, the officers were on patrol when they heard a thud.
A man had fallen onto the southbound train tracks.
Dramatic bodycam video showed the officers jump into action. In less than a minute, they were able to rescue the injured man.
"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," Burks said.
Kingston said he had a bystander stop any oncoming trains.
"This is what we signed up for, to help the people of New York," Kingston said.
The man hit his head and was bleeding but ended up being OK.
The presence of the officers in the subway system seems to be beneficial. In January, a surge of up to 1,000 officers were dispatched into the subways which has resulted in a 17.5% dip in crime from Feb. 1 -24.
However, despite that impact, crime numbers in the subway system are still up.
Last Friday, police say 45-year-old William Alvarez was shot and killed during a fight on a D train in the Bronx.
The suspects, identified as 24-year-old Justin Herde, 38-year-old Betty Cotto, and 42-year-old Alfredo Trinidad, were taken into police custody on Monday.
NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper says tackling crime on the subway is a main focus.
"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."
That deadly shooting marks the third homicide in the subway system this year.
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