Wes Autrey, a 50-year old Navy veteran and construction worker, was standing nearby on the platform with his young children. As they watched in horror, their dad jumped down to the track area and lay on top of the other man, holding him down as the train passed over them both.
"He didn't know who I was," said Autrey. "He was incoherent. The train comes and I have to make the decision whether to struggle and try to get him up to the platform or dive for the gutter and just push him back. So my thing was to just push him back and lay on top of him."
When asked if the bottom of the train touched the top of his head, Autrey said, "It could have."
We hear so much about random violence these days. It's rare to hear about random heroism. It makes you wonder if maybe we all have the kind of selfless shining goodness in us that would make us offer our life for a stranger. If we have resources of courage that we're not using. If maybe we are all angels in disguise. It would be nice to think so.
