The Subway Savior

January 28, 2007

By: Sellers S. Crain, Jr.

    Cameron Hollopeter is a 19 year old who is studying film making at a New York Film Academy,  On Tuesday, January 2nd, he was seen stumbling down the steps of the New York City Subway 137th Street College Station.  This may have caused some to think he was either drunk or on drugs.  He fell on the platform and was prevented from falling off onto the tracks by two other people waiting for the subway.  One was Wesley Autrey, a divorced father of two girls, who was on his way to return his girls to their mother.  Autrey and an unnamed woman helped young Hollopeter to his feet and thought he was OK.  He held onto the terminal post for a few minutes and then started to walk away when he fell backward off the platform and onto the tracks below.  He was having an epileptic seizure.

    At the same time the southbound No. 1 train was coming into the station.  Seemingly without giving it a second thought, Autrey, a 50 year old construction worker, jumped off the platform onto the tracks.  He rolled Hollopeter onto his back laying him in the shallow filthy drainage ditch beneath the rails.  The train's operator saw the two men on the tracks and applied the emergency brake in an attempt to stop before reaching them.  Hollopeter was still thrashing around so Autrey lay on top of him holding his arms and legs down to prevent the train from running over them.  Before the operator could stop the train, two of the cars had already passed over the two men.  The space between Autrey and the train car was so close that it greased his stocking cap.  Miraculously, neither of the two men received any serious injury, although Hollopeter was hospitalized for minor injuries sustained in the fall.

    Autrey, a very humble man, became an instant celebrity.  He made the rounds of the morning news shows, and he was even featured on David Letterman's Late Night program.  He received a gift of $10,000 from Donald Trump.  The Film Academy gave him $2,500 to start a scholarship fund for his two girls, who witnessed their father's heroic actions.  He also received a free trip to Disney World for his whole family.  The Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, Elliot Sander, said he had never seen such an act of bravery before.  He gave Autrey free subway rides for a full year.  He said Autrey was "at the right place at the right time and did the right thing."

    Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York City, presented Autrey with the city's highest honor, a Bronze Medallion.  The mayor called him "The Hero of Harlem".  Autrey protested that he was not a hero, but he just did what he hoped everyone else would do in that situation.  Because of his unselfish action he was called by many in the media "The Subway Savior".  Cameron's father, Larry Hollopeter, said that "Autrey's instinctive unselfish acts saved our son's life."

    Spiritually speaking there is only one Savior, Jesus the Christ (Matthew 1:21; Acts 4:12).  He came to this world to rescue us from certain destruction (Romans 6:23).  His unselfish sacrifice makes it possible for us to be saved from our sins and to live with Him eternally in Heaven (John 3:16, 17; Romans 5:6-8).  This gift is free (Romans 5:15-18), but we must accept it through faith and obedience tot he gospel (Mark 16:16).

Brotherly,

Sellers