Alonzo
01-04-2007, 06:31 PM
Cameron Hollopeter , fledgling film producer and actor, has played a wayward husband, a hapless businessman, and a mobster named Goosebreath Moosejaw . But his most dramatic role came in real life this week , as the near-fatal victim of an oncoming New York subway train.
The 20-year-old Harvard native suffered an apparent seizure Tuesday afternoon as he stood on the platform at the 137th Street station and, as horrified riders looked on, fell onto the tracks in the path of an oncoming train.
Wesley Autrey , a 50-year-old construction worker who was with his two young daughters, leaped after the young man, pinned him into a 2-foot-deep trough between the tracks, and covered Hollopeter's body with his own as the train barreled over them.
"We had a good Samaritan who came to [Hollopeter's] aid and saved his life," said Sergeant Kevin Hayes of the New York Police Department.
Despite being praised as a hero yesterday, Autrey was low-key in a telephone interview.
"I'm just grateful that I was able to do what I done," he said. "I would probably do it all over again."
Autrey visited Hollopeter at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital yesterday, where the New York Film Academy student was recovering from minor injuries. As his father looked on, Hollopeter thanked Autrey from his hospital bed, Autrey recalled.
"He just said, 'Thank you, sir, for saving me,' " Autrey said. "The father was teary-eyed."
Once Hollopeter recovers, the two families plan to get together for a "nice meal," Autrey said.
After the visit, Autrey and Hollopeter's father addressed reporters.
"Mr. Autrey's instinctive and unselfish act saved our son's life," said Larry Hollopeter of Littleton, choking up. "There are no words to properly express our gratitude and feelings for his actions."
At Bromfield School in Harvard, a town about 30 miles west of Boston, where Hollopeter went to high school and was active in theater, students could not stop talking yesterday about the near-tragedy, said Michael McGarty , head of the drama department.
He described Hollopeter as a theater and film enthusiast who had a great time playing the part of Goosebreath Moosejaw in the high school play "Detective Sketches ."
"He was hysterical" in the comedy role, said McGarty, who met with Hollopeter for lunch in August. McGarty remembers how excited Hollopeter was to start a one-year program at the New York Film Academy and was not nervous at all about moving to the big city.
McGarty, who grew up in New York, said he was shocked to learn that a stranger saved his former student.
"To think somebody would try and save somebody else like that," he said. "That's amazing."
Lots of other people were impressed as well.
Autrey said he is fielding calls from "Good Morning America," "Late Show with David Letterman," and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." Strangers have offered him and his daughters, who are 4 and 6, paid trips to Disney World.
And representatives of Donald Trump have called to tell him that the real estate tycoon wants to give him some sort of gift, Autrey said, adding, "I was told it's $10,000."
The New York Film Academy yesterday gave Autrey a $5,000 check and has offered his daughters scholarships.
"We wanted to do it because he saved Cameron, for God's sake," said Anita Tovich , chairwoman of the production department at the academy. She said she told Autrey to stop by at the school whenever he wants acting lessons or just to say hello.
"We consider him a friend," she said.
The attention has been overwhelming to Autrey, who said he is scheduled to meet with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today. But the construction worker is keeping the accolades in perspective.
"I'm going to take these 15 minutes of fame and run with it," he said.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/01/04/bay_state_family_hails_new_yorkers_heroic_leap?mod e=PF
The 20-year-old Harvard native suffered an apparent seizure Tuesday afternoon as he stood on the platform at the 137th Street station and, as horrified riders looked on, fell onto the tracks in the path of an oncoming train.
Wesley Autrey , a 50-year-old construction worker who was with his two young daughters, leaped after the young man, pinned him into a 2-foot-deep trough between the tracks, and covered Hollopeter's body with his own as the train barreled over them.
"We had a good Samaritan who came to [Hollopeter's] aid and saved his life," said Sergeant Kevin Hayes of the New York Police Department.
Despite being praised as a hero yesterday, Autrey was low-key in a telephone interview.
"I'm just grateful that I was able to do what I done," he said. "I would probably do it all over again."
Autrey visited Hollopeter at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital yesterday, where the New York Film Academy student was recovering from minor injuries. As his father looked on, Hollopeter thanked Autrey from his hospital bed, Autrey recalled.
"He just said, 'Thank you, sir, for saving me,' " Autrey said. "The father was teary-eyed."
Once Hollopeter recovers, the two families plan to get together for a "nice meal," Autrey said.
After the visit, Autrey and Hollopeter's father addressed reporters.
"Mr. Autrey's instinctive and unselfish act saved our son's life," said Larry Hollopeter of Littleton, choking up. "There are no words to properly express our gratitude and feelings for his actions."
At Bromfield School in Harvard, a town about 30 miles west of Boston, where Hollopeter went to high school and was active in theater, students could not stop talking yesterday about the near-tragedy, said Michael McGarty , head of the drama department.
He described Hollopeter as a theater and film enthusiast who had a great time playing the part of Goosebreath Moosejaw in the high school play "Detective Sketches ."
"He was hysterical" in the comedy role, said McGarty, who met with Hollopeter for lunch in August. McGarty remembers how excited Hollopeter was to start a one-year program at the New York Film Academy and was not nervous at all about moving to the big city.
McGarty, who grew up in New York, said he was shocked to learn that a stranger saved his former student.
"To think somebody would try and save somebody else like that," he said. "That's amazing."
Lots of other people were impressed as well.
Autrey said he is fielding calls from "Good Morning America," "Late Show with David Letterman," and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." Strangers have offered him and his daughters, who are 4 and 6, paid trips to Disney World.
And representatives of Donald Trump have called to tell him that the real estate tycoon wants to give him some sort of gift, Autrey said, adding, "I was told it's $10,000."
The New York Film Academy yesterday gave Autrey a $5,000 check and has offered his daughters scholarships.
"We wanted to do it because he saved Cameron, for God's sake," said Anita Tovich , chairwoman of the production department at the academy. She said she told Autrey to stop by at the school whenever he wants acting lessons or just to say hello.
"We consider him a friend," she said.
The attention has been overwhelming to Autrey, who said he is scheduled to meet with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today. But the construction worker is keeping the accolades in perspective.
"I'm going to take these 15 minutes of fame and run with it," he said.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/01/04/bay_state_family_hails_new_yorkers_heroic_leap?mod e=PF