Video: Officer Victor Ortiz Rescues Man From Railroad
New Jersey Transit Police Officer Victor Ortiz is a hero.
Video: Officer Victor Ortiz Rescues Man From Railroad
The Garden State has another reason to be proud of one of their officers, Victor Ortiz, who was captured on video pulling a suicidal man from train tracks.
As recent mainstream media attention is becoming more slanted against the police, this one story of bravery has been hard to pass up – even for the notoriously anti-police New York Daily News – which also highlighted the officer’s heroism. The following story is real, and highlights the near death experience one officer (a husband and a father) had while helping preventing a suicide.
The events transpired last week when New Jersey Transit Police Officer Victor Ortiz was working a shift extension on August 26th. Hero Officer Ortiz was on duty past his 7 AM end time when he got a call to help remove a passenger from a train.
While trying to get a handle on the reason behind the request, Officer Victor Ortiz asked Alan Jefferson, 56, to sit on a passenger bench on the platform. Jefferson was reluctant and advised Officer Ortiz that he didn’t want to go back to jail. Jefferson then leaped from the platform onto the rail-tracks below. Yelling, “I want to die. I want to die” Jefferson flopped across the tracks.
Not knowing how close train traffic was, or if it could be stopped, Officer Ortiz jumped onto the tracks, risking his own life to assist a man who did not value his own. The officer tried calming the man, “You’re not going to die”.
Officer Ortiz then looked up and saw the lights of an inbound train. Realizing that the two were directly in the path of the train, Officer Ortiz tried to pull Jefferson from the tracks. The man pulled back on the officer and began to knock him off balance. Officer Oritz recalled, “I thought, ‘I have to let this guy go. He’s resisting, he’ll take me with him.'”
Disregarding his own personal safety, and the fact that the resisting man was trying to pull him down on the tracks too, Officer Ortiz decided to give one last pull just as the train was bearing down on them. This last ditch effort did the trick, and bother Jefferson and Officer Ortiz fell to safety mere inches from the train.
We too are proud to call Officer Victor Ortiz a brother in blue. His courageous actions are to be commended. Jefferson, who was later medically cleared and is currently housed in the Hudson county jail, also personally thanked Officer Ortiz for saving his life and gave the hero officer a handshake. I’m sure the NY Daily News will not long remember the courage of Officer Ortiz as they go on with their business of demoralizing our community protectors, but for at least one fleeting moment – they could not help but to tip their hats to the hero. Well done Officer Ortiz.
