Photo: Facebook
He was the only one who jumped to the rescue.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Jun 10, 2022
A 20-year-old man from Chicago is being hailed as a hero after he jumped onto electrified railroad tracks in order to save a man’s life.
Anthony Perry had just exited the Red Line CTA train at 59th Street when he saw a man writhing in pain from the 600 volts that were flowing through his body and decided to spring into action, not caring about whether he would be shocked or not.
A video shows the Chicago commuter saving the injured man from the subway tracks.
After saving the stranger’s life, Anthony Perry was gifted a car and was given a ceremony for his heroic deed.
During the ceremony on Wednesday, Perry was honored by community leader and Chicago philanthropist, Early Walker, for saving the stranger’s life and was given a gas card.
When Perry declined the gas card, citing the fact that he had no use for it since he didn’t own a car, Walker revealed the real gift waiting for him — a 2008 Audi A6.
Perry had told media that he took a 90-minute commute every day to his job at an Amazon Fresh in Oak Lawn in suburban Chicago, taking two buses and a train — a trip that would now be cut short with his new car.
“Good does win,” Perry said after receiving the gift. “Good always wins.”
“We need more Anthonys in the world,” Walked told media at the ceremony. “We need more people like this.”
Although CTA expressly discourages taking it upon yourself to jump onto the tracks in the event of someone falling onto the rail, Perry’s quick thinking saved the stranger’s life.
The 32-year-old man who fell onto the tracks had gotten into a dispute with another commuter before the fight took them both down onto the tracks.
However, he was the only one who had gotten electrocuted since his head hit the electrified rail, causing him to lose consciousness and convulse as the electric currents pulsed through him.
“I don’t think I was thinking about what could happen to me at the moment. It was more of what do I have to do to make the situation peaceful,” Perry told WGN TV. “I felt a little shock. I felt it all over my body actually, and then I just didn’t let that stop me.”
A video of the encounter, posted by Tavi Ghee, went viral on Facebook.
You can see the other man in the fight fleeing from the scene before Perry goes to save his life, jumping down onto the tracks.
Every time he touches the man's body, Perry jumps back, clearly getting shocked by the electricity, before deciding it didn’t matter and pulling him to safety on the side of the track.
He was able to perform CPR on the man with the help of another onlooker.
“She was talking me through on what to do. I feel like that was an angel from God,” he told Fox Chicago. “I ended up doing chest compressions and turning him on his side until the fire department got there.”
According to reports by Fox Chicago, the electrocuted man was the one who instigated the fight, spitting on the other man before the fight took them onto the rails, but it didn’t matter to Perry.
“I was thinking about, if that was me in that situation, how would I want people to treat me?” He told CBS in an interview. “I'm just happy that the guy was alive, more than anything. I didn't see myself as a hero, to be honest.”
The man was quickly taken to the University of Chicago Hospital, where he remains in serious condition, but at least he was alive.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Since graduating from Rutgers University, he spends most of his free time gaming or playing a fictional sport. Keep up with his rants about current events on Twitter.