A Year of Free Rides for the Hero Who Stopped the Man Who Derailed the New York Subway | The NY Journal
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“Someone getting some happiness wreaking havoc and destruction, it bothered me”
Rikien Wilder on being honored yesterday
Photo:
Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit / Courtesy
Rikien Wilder risked his life and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) rewarded him with a year of free rides on the New York Subway, a quirky giant MetroCard, and the title “Hero of the Subway.”
He received the honors yesterday as a guest at the agency’s monthly board meeting. According to MTA President Pat Foye, it is “The highest award the MTA can bestow on a civilian.”
Wilder’s feat allowed stop Demetrius Harvard on Sunday, a repeat offender who supposedly threw pieces of metal on the tracks, causing a derailment at the West 14th St / 8 Av station in Manhattan. The event caused damages close to $ 1 million and three passengers with minor injuries.
“It’s an extraordinary story of New York heroism,” Foye highlighted the feat of Wilder, who like a common passenger was at the station Sunday morning and noticed that a man was laying layers of metal debris on the track of the A train heading Uptown.
“I went down to see what he was doing and realized that he had some things placed on top of the rail and to the side,” he recalled. “I removed what I could see and got up from there because I could feel the turbulence of the oncoming train.”
Wilder then ran to the mezzanine of the station to alert an MTA worker. But when he got back to the platform, he saw that Harvard was back on the tracks, “smiling” and with a “kind of deranged look on his face” as he re-stacked the debris.
“The second time it appeared, I was a little angry (…) For someone to get some happiness by wreaking havoc and destruction, it bothered me. “
When the suspect fled, Wilder was undaunted. “I chased it down, somehow I shot it down (…) He tried to get to the turnstile and I grabbed him just before ”.
Wilder pinned Harvard down until authorities could take over, leaving him with a crooked wrist. “It’s a bit difficult to hold someone for a full 15 minutes in full grip,” he explained.
As a reward for her bravery, yesterday she also received a banner that read “Hero of the Subway” and “Rikien Wilder”, in the style of the mosaics of the Metro stations, along with a “New York Tough” T-shirt and mask.
“I like it,” Wilder said. “I love it, I love it,” he added, smiling, quoting the New York Post.
In contrast, Sunday was not Harvard’s first run-in with the law: just a few weeks ago he was brought before a Manhattan Criminal Court judge for allegedly hit a bus MTA with a metal bar, breaking two windows. And I already had one open court order for no-show in March 2019, after threatening two store employees.
We love to see New Yorkers taking care of one another.
While we never want you to go on the tracks, we’re grateful to Rikien Wilder for all he did to try to remove the debris from the tracks in Sunday’s vandalism-caused derailment. He helped keep the customers and crew safe. pic.twitter.com/2E5s5aEn5o
– MTA. Wear a Mask. Stop the Spread. (@MTA) September 23, 2020
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