A man survived falling onto Queens subway tracks relatively unscathed after a train passed over him — only to be seriously injured by a second train as two good Samaritans attempted to pull him to safety, witnesses told the Daily News.
The unidentified victim, a man police believe to be in his mid-40s, fell from the northbound R-train platform at the Northern Blvd. station in Woodside around 1:23 p.m., Tuesday, cops said.
A witness said she was watching from the other side of the turnstiles when the victim, who appeared to be swaying on his feet, suddenly toppled over and fell onto the tracks.
“He was moving from one side to the other,” Sierra Palma, who speaks Spanish, told The News through a translator. “He couldn’t hold his body up and he fell.”
Palma looked on in horror and dialed 911 as a train rolled into the station, stopped and then proceeded down the line. She said there was no one else on the platform to notify the train’s crew to the victim’s plight.
Then, as the train left the station, the victim stood up, she said.
“The first train went over and nothing happened,” said Palma. “After the second train came, it hit him.”
Thomas Astorias, 23, was on his way to work at a Queens after-school program when he caught sight of the beleaguered straphanger.
“He was standing on the tracks, his head down and arms crossed,” said Astorias. “I asked him if he was ok and told him he had to get off the train tracks. He responded, saying he’s not dong well.”
The victim complained to Astorias of a broken arm, so the good Samaritan attempted to lead him along the tracks to a ladder located at the far end of the platform.
Astorias said he was holding the man’s hand as they walked along the tracks when the second train suddenly roared into the station.
“We were super close (to the ladder), but the train was coming. I was like, we don’t have time,” said Astorias. “The train was going super fast, he was going slow.”
At that moment, a teenage boy ran up to help and together the pair pulled the victim off the tracks. The man was about halfway onto the platform when the train struck him, Astorias said.
“He flew in the air and landed on the (platform),” Astorias said. “He was bleeding a lot, his shoes and hat fell off. I shouted out to everybody to call for EMTs and police. I checked his breathing. He had a crack on his head.
“I was like, ‘Please don’t stop breathing.’ I was telling him everything was going to be fine, stay with me. I was giving him that motivation to fight.”
Mike Palma, 50, was on his way to check into a Queens hotel when he saw the train slam into the victim.
“He got halfway up and he got hit,” said Palma. “His head, it was open. You could see inside, the blood is pouring. I didn’t know what to do. I threw myself on the floor. I held him. I put pressure on his head, palmed it like a basketball.”
The good Samaritans stayed with the victim until paramedics arrived and took the man to Elmhurst Hospital in critical condition.
“A firefighter thanked me and said, ‘If it wasn’t for you, he wouldn’t be alive,” said Astorias. “It gave me a perspective on how precious life is. As long as I could save somebody that’s what really matters. I would do anything for a life.”
