{"id":32924,"date":"2024-04-14T13:05:34","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T20:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=32924"},"modified":"2024-04-14T21:16:05","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T04:16:05","slug":"two-s-f-strangers-rescue-person-from-bart-tracks-seconds-before-train-arrives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/04\/14\/two-s-f-strangers-rescue-person-from-bart-tracks-seconds-before-train-arrives\/","title":{"rendered":"Two S.F. strangers rescue person from BART tracks seconds before train arrives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/a>By Annie Vainshtein<\/a> April 12, 2024 (SFChronicle.com)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a typical Thursday morning for San Francisco residents Josh Hyman and Blake Garrett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just after 7:30 a.m., both men were waiting at the 24th Street Mission Station for a Pittsburg-bound BART train, the first leg of their  respective commutes to jobs in the East Bay. The two men had never met, despite taking the same train almost every morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in a harrowing instant, their lives would intersect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both men noticed a person, apparently in their 30s, who seemed to be experiencing a mental health episode. Pacing around the platform, the person was talking to themselves, screaming and intermittently laying down on the train platform, said Garrett, 29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garrett noticed the person first \u2014 and immediately called BART Police to request a wellness check. He was concerned about the individual, who kept getting closer to the edge of the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNext thing I know, they\u2019re in the tracks,\u201d said Garrett. \u201cAnd I looked over and saw a train was starting to arrive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further down the platform, Hyman saw the same person crawling onto the tracks, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hyman, 46, said Garrett immediately walked over to the person and said, \u201cGive me your hand.\u201d Without thinking, Hyman did the same. The person desperately raised their arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They couldn\u2019t haul the person up to the platform on their first attempt, Garrett said, as the screen announcing arrival times showed the train was about reach the station. Garrett said he could see the train\u2019s light growing from inside the tunnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the two men managed to pull the person up on their stomach. The person just laid there and whimpered, said Hyman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd then the train came, right after that,\u201d he said. \u201cLike 30 seconds later.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pulsing with adrenaline, Hyman hopped on his train and left. He waved goodbye to Garrett, who said he decided to stay with the person until a BART attendant arrived at the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson for BART wasn\u2019t immediately available for comment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moments later, the person got up and began to wander around the platform, Garrett said. He kept an eye on them, worried they might wander onto the tracks again. But then the person got on a train heading the other direction, Garrett said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of that morning, Hyman said he had an overwhelming need to connect with the other man who\u2019d helped him. It was his first ever post on Reddit, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once he got into work, Garrett said he checked Twitter to see if anyone had posted about the incident but found nothing. A co-worker told him about a Reddit post that read: \u201cTo the guy who helped me pull a guy off the tracks at the 24th street BART station just now, glad you were there,\u201d the post read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two Good Samaritans exchanged a few messages back and forth, thanking each other for their service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat guy, he would have been dead,\u201d said Hyman, reflecting on what would have happened had Garrett not been there. \u201cAnd we would have been right there to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the hours since, they\u2019ve been trading off thank-yous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was raised to help people who need help,\u201d said Hyman in an interview. \u201cI\u2019m glad there was somebody else on the track who thinks that way, who was raised that way \u2014 or who just became that way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reach Annie Vainshtein: avainshtein@sfchronicle.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 12, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Annie Vainshtein<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Annie is a reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle. She previously was a digital producer for The Chronicle\u2019s Datebook section. She graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2017 with a degree in journalism. During her time there, she spearheaded a culture column, produced radio pieces for NPR-affiliate station KCBX, and was a DJ and writer for KCPR, the campus radio station. Before joining the Chronicle, she was an associate producer at SFGATE and interned at VICE and Flood Magazine. She\u2019s particularly interested in communities and scenes that are often misunderstood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She can be reached at\u00a0avainshtein@sfchronicle.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Annie Vainshtein April 12, 2024 (SFChronicle.com) It was a typical Thursday morning for San Francisco residents Josh Hyman and Blake Garrett. Just after 7:30 a.m., both men were waiting at the 24th Street Mission Station for a Pittsburg-bound BART train, the first leg of their  respective commutes to jobs in the… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32924"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32924"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32930,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32924\/revisions\/32930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}