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Man, Dog Survive Fall Onto Subway Tracks

by Seth Millstein

Does this qualify as a “feel good” story? We’re not entirely sure. On Tuesday, a 60-year-old blind man fell onto the subway tracks in New York City, and his seeing eye dog leapt onto the tracks after him. The dog, an 11-year-old black labrador named Orlando, started licking the man’s face as he was splayed out helplessly on the tracks, but he was unable to get out. The subway train came about fifteen seconds later and ran over both of them — and miraculously, both the man and his dog survived.

It all went down on the A train platform at the 125th Street station in Harlem. Pececil Williams, 60, was reportedly standing too close to the edge of the platform, and so Orlando tried to pull him away. But Williams fell down anyway, and Orlando —who's very cute — jumped down after him. According to a witness, Williams and Orlando scooted to the middle of the tracks right before the train hit, which allowed the train to pass over them with minimal contact.

“Everyone was screaming, everyone was shaking in horror,” FIT student Ashley Prenza, who was on the train in question told the New York Post. “We heard someone on the other side scream he’s fine, he’s alive ... It was a big relief for everyone.”

Prenza says everyone on the train looked away as the train approached, and that Quinones’ “face was really bloody” when police pulled him off the tracks. He's now reportedly in stable condition at St. Luke’s hospital, and full train service has been restored. So all’s well that ends well, but it still sounds like a pretty harrowing experience for everyone involved.

This is the second time in the last week that a man has survived falling into the New York City subway tracks by allowing the train to pass over them. Fifty-one-year-old Ralph Mercado accomplished the same amazing feat Saturday after he claimed to have been attempting to rescue a woman who fell onto the tracks. He was booked for a psychological evaluation after witnesses said there was no such woman.