Addabbo Honors Hero Electrician Who Saved Elderly Man Pushed Onto Subway Tracks

(Queens, NY – September 18, 2023) - Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr. yesterday honored Pooran Mohabir of South Ozone Park, a young man who risked his own life to save the life of a senior citizen who had been shoved onto train tracks by an allegedly emotionally disturbed individual. Senator Addabbo presented the New York State Senate citation to Mohabir at his District Office in Woodhaven, where the local hero was accompanied by his wife, Bibi Safi-Mohabir, his co-workers and union members.

Mohabir, 33, an electrical foreman and a member of United Electrical Workers of America (UEWA) Local 363, was doing overnight construction work at the 68th Street-Hunter College station with a crew from RMD Electric, a subcontractor of the MTA, when he heard shouting emanating from the subway platform, just after midnight.

The perpetrator, who has since been caught, was allegedly talking to himself shortly before the incident, which occurred just after midnight and reportedly became angered when the victim, Trevor Crawford, 74, looked at him. The perpetrator then shoved Crawford onto the tracks where the victim was inches from electrocution by the third rail and 4 minutes away from being struck by an oncoming train.

Mr. Crawford was rushed by EMS to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center to be treated for multiple rib, pelvic and spinal fractures. The victim was stabilized and listed in stable condition.

As for the initiative to help an individual thrown onto the tracks, “I would do it again,” Mohabir said. “I pulled him up from the tracks. I didn’t jump on the tracks. I laid on my belly and I pulled him up. The train was four minutes away. He was scared. He was bleeding all over. He didn’t want to go the hospital, but the cops got him to go.”

“Pooran Mohabir is a hero, a truly selfless individual who ran towards danger, motivated by instinct and protected by the training he received as part of his job,” Addabbo said.  “He didn’t just save one life, but he affected so many around him by his actions – the victim’s family, the train conductor who could have hit the victim, any straphangers who might become fearful to ride a train again, and his own family, because he could have perished while saving Mr. Crawford.  It is only fitting that I honor Pooran today because it takes a very special person, a person whom we all hope would be around if we were ever in that situation. He is a role model for every citizen who has ever wondered whether he or she should get involved in helping someone or turn away.”

Video from the press conference can be viewed on Senator Addabbo’s YouTube Channel at the link below.

https://youtu.be/hMEy6OCl1RY?si=ljKGFUxT-SAUeSiK