An unemployed Brooklyn man missed his job interview to save a child’s life! Click below to find out what happened!
An unemployed Brooklyn man missed a job interview Tuesday for the best of reasons: He was saving the life of a 9-month-old boy who was blown into the path of an oncoming subway train by a gust of high wind.
Like a superhero without a cape, Delroy Simmonds jumped onto the elevated tracks and hoisted the bleeding child — still strapped into his stroller — to the safety of the platform as the J train bore down on them.
The father of two then shrugged off his courageous, selfless act.
“Everybody is making me out to be some sort of superhero,†the father of two told the Daily News on Tuesday night. “I’m just a normal person. Anybody in that situation should have done what I did.â€
He said he wasn’t looking for praise. What he really wants is a regular paycheck.
“I’ve been looking for a job for a year and change,†Simmonds said. “I’m looking for something to support my family.â€
The Brooklyn native was on his way to apply for a maintenance position at a warehouse when the unthinkable happened at the Van Siclen Ave. station in Cypress Hills at 12:45 p.m.
“A strong gust of wind blew. It had to be 30, 40 miles an hour,†he recalled. “There was a woman with four kids. One was in a stroller. The wind blew the baby onto the tracks.â€
Witnesses looked on in horror as the child’s mother, identified by sources as Maria Zamara, stood frozen in shock. In the distance, they could see the train rounding a bend, headed into the station.
“I jumped down and I snatched the baby up,†Simmonds said. “The train was coming around the corner as I lifted the baby from the tracks. I really wasn’t thinking.â€
He hoisted the stroller to the platform as the train came in, the operator blasting his horn. He pulled himself up just as the train jerked to a stop halfway into the station, witnesses said.
Khalima Ansari, 21, who was waiting for the same train, was stunned by Simmonds’ heroics.
“The baby had a big gash on his forehead. You could see his skull,†said Ansari, who called 911.
The child was taken to Brookdale University Hospital and treated for cuts to his face and head. “He’s okay. . . . We are thankful,†the boy’s father said at the hospital.
Simmonds didn’t stick around after the rescue.
“It was the fatherly instinct. I have two daughters of my own — 8 and 5. I was being a father. I would have done it for any baby,†he said.
Those instincts meant he missed his train — and the interview that might have led to his first job since he was a laid off as a vocational trainer for the mentally disabled.
He said he had another interview scheduled for Wednesday and was just hoping he could get there without any drama.
“What I really need is a job,†he said.
