NYPD officers save woman who collapsed on Brooklyn subway platform

BROOKLYN, New York (WABC) -- Two NYPD Transit police officer are being hailed as heroes after saving a woman's life at a subway station in Brooklyn.

The pair, with just a few years experience between them, knew exactly what to do when the victim fainted and nearly died on the platform.

Officers Amanda Phillips and Pen Zhu are quick to tell you they're not heroes, but they credit quick thinking and staying cool under pressure.

"I'm just doing my job," Phillips said. "I would want anybody to do that for anyone."

The officers, assigned to the Transit Bureau, were on post patrol at the Lafayette Avenue station on the C line around 5 p.m. Thursday.

"I have to imagine that it's one of my family members lying on the floor and hope that someone can save her as soon as possible," Zhu said.

An MTA worker made a 911 call for help after the woman, with a co-worker at the time, collapsed near the MetroCard machine.

"She was just unresponsive," Phillips said. "She wasn't talking...I had to check for a pulse, and once I checked, there was no pulse. That's when I flipped her on her back."

While Officer Phillips began CPR, Officer Zhu called for a portable defibrillator.

"I was on the radio to central and requesting for the defibrillator, and asking for the ETA for EMS," he said.

The AED arrived in a few minutes, and Officer Phillips hooked up the paddles to the woman and activated it.

"I didn't think I had her saved," she said. "Only once they said they found a pulse, when EMS came, that's when I was relieved."

The woman was rushed to Brooklyn Hospital, where she remains in intensive care but is expected to survive.

The officers, who credit their training at the Police Academy, had never had to put it to practice until now.

"It's an amazing feeling knowing that we helped someone out," Phillips said. "She has family and people who care about her, but that's all that matters."