A homeless straphanger feared for his life Thursday when he was accidentally thrown into the path of a Brooklyn train by a frantic commuter — who wound up being the only one to come to the victim’s rescue.
The man was left emotionally shaken and suffered 12 broken ribs in the horrifying ordeal, but he told The Post he had little hope of surviving as he watched the R train barrel toward him.
“You’re about to die,” the hospitalized straphanger, asking to only be identified by his initials L.H., recalled thinking before the train hit him and dragged him 100 feet down the tracks.
L.H. was returning to the 2nd Avenue Men’s Shelter in Sunset Park, where he has been living for about a month, after a jog through Downtown Brooklyn when the near-tragedy occurred.
He was walking along the Jay Street-MetroTech platform near the base of the stairs so he could get in the first train car when Emmanuel Paul, 20, allegedly jumped a staircase railing and slammed into him, sending him sailing onto the tracks.
L.H. desperately tried to leap back to safety, but he was overcome by terror when he realized he had neither the time nor ability to get off the tracks before the southbound R-train rolled into the station.
To make matters worse, no one other than the unintentional suspect made any movement to help him.
“I looked all these people dead in the eyes, reaching out for them. They didn’t reach out for me,” L.H. said.
L.H. gripped the platform edges and was clipped by the train as it motored into the station. He was dragged several feet down the tunnel.
In front of other witnesses, Paul lifted the injured straphanger — who was struggling to breathe — back onto the platform and even placed his backpack underneath L.H.’s head as he screamed his thanks to God.
L.H. was rushed to the hospital and Paul was taken into custody, where he was hit with two counts of reckless endangerment, sources said. One charge is a felony, the other is a misdemeanor.
Although L.H. thinks some form of punishment is justified, he doesn’t want to see the young man behind bars.
“I don’t feel that’s really fair … He didn’t mean it, but people need to be conscious about what they’re doing when they’re doing it,” L.H. said.
L.H. has been left with half his ribs broken — all on his left side were left shattered — and mixed emotions about the ordeal.
While relieved to be alive, the straphanger said he feels “a little sad, a little disappointed that something could transpire like this.”
“I want people to know to be safe for those friends, make sure you’re mindful of individuals that are there, keep space from the railings to the platform. Stay on the side where the railings are not towards the platform, because this could happen to anybody else in the future.”
