Surveillance video captured the moment that a California transit employee pulled a man from the path of an oncoming train with just a moment to spare.
Bay Area Rapid Transit employee John O’Connor is being hailed as a hero after his swift rescue of an intoxicated man who fell into the path of a train after Sunday’s NFL game between the Oakland Raiders and the Detroit Lions.
Passenger Tony Badilla witnessed the entire incident and told CNN that onlookers were amazed at the scene.
“As the train approached, I sat up from my seat and the crowd turned their attention to the train,” Badilla said. “I heard a commotion to my left just as the train arrived and witnessed the BART worker physically bring the man to the ground, both falling to the deck safely as the train breezed by.
“The crowd was shocked at just how close of a call it was, and the man was rattled,” he continued. “The BART worker was upset with the man for being so careless, but his emotions took over and the two embraced.”
BART also thanked O’Connor, a 24-year employee, for his heroism and said that he “saved a life tonight.”
Tony, thank you for capturing this moment. Our employee John is very humble and once we saw this tweet and recognized John we called him to find out what happened. https://t.co/aJ1S6Cjp5L
— SFBART (@SFBART) November 4, 2019
“I thought the train was going to cut him in half, honestly,” O’Connor told reporters on Sunday. “I didn’t want to see this guy die.”
O’Connor said he told the man after the rescue to pay it forward.
