Chicago man springs into action when woman faints onto CTA tracks

CHICAGO (STMW) - A Chicago man rescued a woman from the CTA tracks after she passed out.

"So I'm just minding my own business, standing around, and to the right of me I heard a loud thump," said Earl Daley.

Daley was one of scores of people waiting for a train at the CTA Blue Line's Jackson stop Tuesday evening when a young woman fell onto the tracks, her head just inches from the third rail.

"I turn around and I see this young lady laying on the tracks. Her arms were underneath her and she was face down," Daley said.

For several stunned moments, she lay motionless and no one knew what to do.

"It almost seemed like it wasn't real. I didn't have time really to think. I took my backpack off. I jumped down on the rails. I walked up to her to see if she was unconscious or if she was breathing or something," Daley said. “And it seemed like there was nothing there. Almost like she was blank. I'm having trouble picking her up by myself, I'm going to lift her up and luckily another guy jumps down and we grab her by the shoulders."

They dragged the woman over to the platform where other customers reached down and hauled her to safety.

About two minutes later, a Blue Line train roared into the station and Daley got on.

FOX 32: Did you have a chance to be scared?

"No, not at all. Not at all. It was almost just a reactionary kind of thing," Daley said.

"Just jumped in. I thought it was incredibly heroic," said federal judge Jorge Alonso

Alonso was also on that train platform. The station is right outside his chambers at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

Judge Alonso says he later bumped into Daley on the train and congratulated him on his actions, which he believes should be recognized by the public.

FOX 32: Why did you feel he deserved some recognition?

"He just, he didn't hesitate. He just acted. He acted. And I’m sure like many on that platform would like to think ten seconds later we would have acted. But we didn't. He did," Alonso said.

In a statement, the CTA says: "While this incident fortunately did not result in serious harm to anyone, the CTA strongly recommends that customers never jump down on the tracks or enter the right of way. Instead, if customers witness a person falling onto the tracks that they immediately dial 911 or notify a CTA employee, who will notify the CTA's Control Center to have power on the tracks removed."

But Daley, who works as a teller at a bank around the corner, says with trains arriving every few minutes during rush hour, he felt he didn't have a choice.

"That quick second where I turned around to look I saw that no one else reacted and I was like I have to do it. I almost felt compelled to have to go down and help," Daley said.

Daley says he would like to talk to the woman he saved, not to get thanks, but just to see how she's doing.
We don't know the identity of that woman either, but the CTA says she was taken to Northwestern Memorial and treated for minor injuries.