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Teen thrown onto subway tracks by homeless man escapes with minor injuries
Jered Harvey, a student at Pace, intervened in a fight between homeless man Rayfield Grant, 29, and a woman on the Fulton St. platform. The student tells The News how he intervened, and how he was lucky to escape with his life.
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BY PETE DONOHUE AND STEPHEN REX BROWN / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
PUBLISHED: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2013, 3:41 PM
UPDATED: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2013, 8:32 PM
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Jered Harvey, a student at PACE Brooklyn, was thrown onto the tracks of the 2 and 3 subway lines at Fulton St. Thursday night by a homeless man, but managed to get back on the platform before a train came.
JAMES KEIVOM/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Jered Harvey, a student at Pace, was thrown onto the tracks of the 2 and 3 subway lines at Fulton St. Thursday night by a homeless man, but managed to get back on the platform before a train came.
A gallant college student was punched in the face and thrown to the subway tracks after coming to the aid of a woman being beaten on a Manhattan platform Thursday night, authorities said.
Jered Harvey, 19, managed to get back on the platform at Fulton St. on the Nos. 2 and 3 lines before a train roared into the station — even though the madman tried to prevent him from climbing back up, his parents said.
The hero may have picked up his calm demeanor from his step-dad, Olivier Busquet, an accomplished professional poker player who has earned over $3.5 million in his career.
Rayfield Grant, 29, who is homeless, was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment and assault, police said.
Harvey, a 5-foot-8, 135-pound economics student at Pace, said he had just finished an evening class and was headed back to his dorm in Brooklyn Heights when he saw Grant punching a woman on the platform at about 10 p.m.
Around 20 straphangers turned a blind eye to the melee.
"It seemed like everybody was walking away, just ignoring it, which was crazy because they were beating the hell out of each other," Harvey said.
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So he took it upon himself to intervene — though the chivalrous student was careful to speak calmly and not appear threatening.
"I walk up to them and say, 'I don't know you, I don't want any trouble, but come on, let's not do anything rash,'" Harvey recalled.
Harvey's attacker, Rayfield Grant, tried to prevent him from getting off the subway tracks and back onto the platform at the Fulton St. station.
MARIELA LOMBARD FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Harvey's attacker, Rayfield Grant, tried to prevent him from getting off the subway tracks and back onto the platform at the Fulton St. station.
But his calm demeanor did little to sooth Grant's rage.
"'Oh, you want to help?'" Grant said, according to Harvey.
Then Grant started swinging, grabbed Harvey by the neck and pushed him to the tracks.
The quick-thinking teen landed hard on one knee, but was able to avoid rolling onto the third rail. He immediately scoped his surroundings.
He decided he needed to ditch his backpack.
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A woman sitting on a bench stared blankly at Harvey as he tried to escape the tracks, the teen said.
"Can you hold my bag? Can you please just hold my bag?" Harvey pleaded. But the woman ignored him. As he tried to clamber back onto the platform Grant stood in his way, Harvey said.
"He was boxing me out," he said. "I moved right, he moved right. I moved left, he moved left."
Harvey decided if a train arrived, he would be able to take refuge in deep drainage ditches on the tracks.
Harvey's mother was proud of his noble deed, but said, 'Next time ... just call the police.'
JAMES KEIVOM/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Harvey's mother was proud of his noble deed, but said, 'Next time ... just call the police.'
"Worst case scenario I figured I could lay down," he said. "I'd be dirty, but I'd be fine."
Eventually Harvey was able to climb to safety as commotion over the shocking turn of events grew.
Once on the platform the student ran into a friend from PACE, and Grant began getting in both of their faces and swinging wildly, Harvey said.
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The friends fled above ground and called the police.
Bizarrely, Grant did not flee on an arriving train, but instead walked right into the clutches of authorities swarming the scene, Harvey said. Grant has previous arrests for minor drug charges, according to cops.
Harvey didn't need medical attention following the harrowing ordeal.
"I'm sore, but nothing is broken," Harvey said. "All in all I think I'm lucky there wasn't a train coming in. It didn't end as badly as it could have."
His mother admired Harvey’s noble deed.
"He just wanted to help," Lorelei Busquet said. "He wasn't trying to create a confrontation or challenge this person. He just felt that nobody was helping and someone had to do something."
But she couldn’t help but add that her son wasn’t a “tough guy.”
“Next time,” she said. “Just call the police.”
pdonohue@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...#ixzz2fUAYIky4
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