[Njagdu] Blind man, guide dog survive being run over by subway cars

[Ginger Kutsch]

Blind man, guide dog survive being run over by subway cars

By Kevin Fasick, Daniel Prendergast and 

December 17, 2013

http://nypost.com/2013/12/17/blind-man-dog-survive-falling-on-subway-tracks/

 

 

A blind man tumbled onto the subway tracks in Harlem on Tuesday, and his
brave seeing eye dog leaped after him - with both surviving two subway cars
roll over them, according to witnesses.

 

Ana Quinones, 53, of Morningside Heights said Pececil aWilliams, 60, was
standing too close to the edge of the uptown A train platform shortly before
9:35 a.m. at the 125th Street station- and his black labrador, Orlando,
tried to bring him to safety.

 

"The dog was trying to pull him away from the southbound edge of the
platform, but his feet were on the edge, he was wobbling, and the dog was
barking," she said.

 

Modal Trigger

Police with Pececil Williams' seeing-eye dog, OrlandoPhoto: Robert Miller

 

The man still fell - and Quinones said Orlando jumped after him.

 

"But there was nothing he could do once he was down there. He just sat there
with the man. He just licked the man's face trying to get him to move," she
said.

 

About 15 seconds later, she said the uptown A came into the station- and the
motorman slammed on his brakes, according to cops.

 

One witness said when the train approached, the man scooted in the middle
where it was deeper, and the train went over him and the dog.

 

Cops said the two were slightly struck by the train, but not seriously hurt.

 

FIT student Ashley Prenza, 18, said all the riders had been shouting, and
couldn't look at the tracks when the train started to come in.

 

"Everyone was screaming, everyone was shaking in horror. We heard someone on
the other side scream he's fine, he's alive!" she said. "It was a big relief
for everyone."

 

The scene was quickly crowded with MTA workers, firefighters, medics, and
transit cops. "They took the dog out first," said Prenza, who said the man
was then slid out from beneath the track and the train.

 

"We saw his chest moving," she said. "His face was really bloody."

 

Williams was taken to St. Luke's Hospital in stable condition, according to
cops. A law-enforcement source he lives in the Bensonhurst section of
Brooklyn.

 

Full service on the A, B, and D has since resumed, according to an MTA
spokeswoman.

 

 

Filed underAccidents,

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