Good Samaritan jumps onto Philadelphia subway tracks to save man after fall

CENTER CITY, PHILADELPHIA (KABC) -- Some waiting passengers turned away when a man tumbled onto the tracks at a downtown Philadelphia subway station, but one good Samaritan leaped into action -- risking his own life to save a stranger.

It happened around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on the westbound Market-Frankford Line tracks at 15th Street Station.

Surveillance video shows Alfred McNamee walking close to the edge of the SEPTA platform, when he takes a misstep and tumbles 5 feet onto the tracks. Some horrified witnesses ran, but 28-year-old Charles Collins disregarded his own safety and jumped down to lift McNamee to safety. Other commuters then reach down to help pull both of them off the tracks.

"I was looking the other way and I heard people scream. And I turned around and I saw him down, so I jumped down [and] picked him up," Collins told WPVI-TV, the ABC station in Philadelphia. "Two other guys picked him up and they got me out."

Collins suffered a minor leg injury, but McNamee's injuries are serious. In the tumble of five feet straight down, he suffered a broken back, a shattered knee, broken ribs, and a severe injury to his spleen that may require surgery.

Collins went to the hospital Thursday to check up on McNamee, but he is refusing to call himself a hero.

"No I'm not a hero... people do the same thing," he said.

Transit officials says Collins' actions were noble and courageous, but they warn against jumping on the tracks and say witnesses should alert a cashier or police officer.

"There's procedures in place that we would like him to also alert the cashier right away, because that will stop trains from coming in. And alert the police officer, who was actually up by the cashier area," said SEPTA Police Inspector Steve Harold.

WPVI-TV and The Associated Press contributed to this report.