Hero Beats Long Odds To Make Save

[Flashermac]

Columbia U. Worker Leaps Across 3 Tracks During Rush Hour To Save Much Bigger Man

 

 

NEW YORK (CBS) â?? Veeramuthu Kalimuthu -- or Kali â?? is a mechanic at Columbia University. His recent actions make him a hero in the truest sense of the word. And if not for someone else coming forward to tell his story, the public would never know what he did on March 14.

 

At around 5 p.m. that day he headed to the downtown No. 1 train at 116th Street in Morningside Heights to go home to Jamaica.

 

"I heard everybody was screaming, you know, and everybody was running in different direction," Kalimuthu said.

 

A man had fallen onto the tracks from the opposite platform, all the way on the other side of the station.

 

"People were getting their cell phones out trying to call the police, somebody's got to help him and then I looked over and I saw the gentlemen Kali jump down, hop over the rails," said witness Ed Dijoseph, who brought Kali's story to CBS 2 HD.

 

Kali made it across three sets of tracks, and knew about the three third rails, which are electrified with 600 volts -- enough to push a 400-ton train.

 

"I was jumping from one over one rail, to over the next rail, over the next rail until I get to him," Kali said.

 

Just getting to the man was hard enough, but once he got to him he had to deal with the fact that the victim was a good 30-40 pounds heavier than he was. Kali is just 5-foot-5 and 150 pounds. Add to that the fact that at 5 p.m. rush hour trains come through that section of track every three minutes.

 

"He was trying to lift the guy up, but he was struggling because the guy who fell was bigger than him," Dijoseph said.

 

 

 

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