NEW YORK—Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn and Council Member Eric Gioia honored Chad Lindsey, the off-Broadway actor who saved a 60-year-old Bronx resident last week after the man fell onto the subway track at the 34th Street ACE Station.
Mr. Lindsey, a 33-year-old actor from Harbor Springs, Mich., who now resides in Woodside, Queens, was on the platform when he saw a man step too close the edge and then slip off the platform and down into the tracks. The man hit his head on the rail and lost consciousness, and Lindsey jumped on to the tracks to help the man.
“He was bleeding all over the place and I tried to wake him up but I couldn’t … I looked up and saw that the train was headed in so I lifted him up and some other guys on the platform helped pull him up,” said Lindsey, “and then I got out of there as fast I could.” Lindsey jumped back onto the platform about 10-15 seconds before the train arrived in the station.
Lindsey says that the platform is higher than you think from down in the tracks. When asked how he managed the feat of lifting a man out and then jumping to safety while a train was coming he said, “I was on fire … I don’t remember how I got out but I got out.”
Lindsey may have been at least partially aided by learning to lift a person in the play he is currently in, each night he lifts another actor. Lindsey is now playing in Kasper Hauser: a foundling’s opera, running through Saturday at the Flea Theater in TriBeCa.
“An extraordinarily humble and hard-working actor, Chad put his own safety on the line to rescue a complete stranger off the rails of the subway, thanks to Chad’s quick-thinking and selfless bravery, we have one less tragedy and one more classic New York City story about a New Yorker whose life was saved. The New York City Council is extremely honored and thankful to recognize Chad today.”
“Chad Lindsey showed the heart and guts that characterize New Yorkers,” said Council Member Eric Gioia, who represents Mr. Lindsey’s Woodside neighborhood. “One second he was on his way to an audition, and the next he was saving a stranger’s life in the subway—it took remarkable courage and he deserves our thanks.”
After receiving his proclamation on Tuesday, Lindsey returned to his day job as a copy editor and proofreader. He had not told his co-workers that he had spent his lunch hour at City Hall receiving a proclamation for his act of heroism, and received some friendly chiding from his colleagues when he returned, as he tried to conceal the gold-framed document. After receiving so much attention for his selfless-and life saving- act, this young actor seems to have remained quite modest. A good deed done well, Mr. Lindsey.
