Port Washington resident Laurence Jacobs was recognized by the MTA Metro-North Railroad for his part in saving a man’s life who was unresponsive on a train in December.
Jacobs, who is the Grand Central Terminal Fire Brigade assistant chief, was called to the scene when a good samaritan called out to the general foreman, Jason Tiller, that a passenger on the train appeared not to be breathing.
When Jacobs arrived at the scene with Sohail Peter, a Grand Central Terminal Fire Brigade volunteer, another passenger who was an off-duty emergency medical technician was performing manual cardiac pulmonary resuscitation on the ill passenger.
“Grand Central Terminal is a vast and non-uniform building, with over five miles of tunnels and passageways,” Jacobs said in a statement. “The Brigade is the first on the scene for emergencies at the Terminal, and we direct the NYPD, FDNY and MTAPD so that they get to the incident location as quickly as possible.”
Jacobs and Peter moved the man from the aisle into an open area where they administered two shocks to his chest with a defibrillator.
“You approach every emergency scene with confidence, ready to help and with good thoughts for the person’s recovery,” Peter said. “Shortly after we started working to resuscitate the man, we felt a pulse, and he started breathing again.”
“That was the greatest moment,” he said.
Meanwhile, MTA police managed to flag down an ambulance, which transported the man to a hospital where he eventually recovered fully.
“Customers and visitors to Grand Central Terminal should feel assured that in the event of an emergency, all of our employees at Metro-North stand ready to assist at a moment’s notice,” Metro-North President Catherine Rinaldi said in a statement. “This incident underscores the compassion, skill and professionalism of our employees and MTA Police Department officers, and it demonstrates how we all work together here at Metro-North to ensure customer safety and reliable service.”
