NYPD Officers Brunel Victor, Taufique Bokth honored for rescuing homeless man from subway tracks

New York City Mayor Eric Adams awarded two NYPD officers proclamations Monday at the 116th Street Station, steps from where the two sprang into action on Thanksgiving Day and rescued a homeless man from subway tracks seconds before a train approached.

Officers Brunel Victor and Taufique Bokth — one an immigrant from Haiti; the other from Bangladesh — are assigned to the NYPD's 25th Precinct and were working overtime as part of a new subway safety initiative following their scheduled Thanksgiving tour shifts, Adams said.

Body-camera footage released by the NYPD showed Victor and Bokth racing upstairs from the platform on the opposite side of the station, crossing the street, dodging traffic, then making their way back down to the tracks on the other side, where a civilian was already on the tracks attempting to help the fallen man.

Adams, flanked at the news conference by officials including NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell and MTA president and CEO Janno Lieber, described the fallen man as homeless and pledged further initiatives from City Hall to address homelessness in the subway system.

The mayor gave a shout-out to the civilian who helped with the rescue, then boarded a train before anyone could learn his identity, stating: "You're what's best about our city."

Sewell noted the homeless man, whose identity has not been released, will celebrate his birthday Tuesday — thanks to the actions of Victor and Bokth.

"This fearless rescue, which happened while most New Yorkers were celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday with their families … is further proof of something that we see every single day," Sewell said, adding: "That heroism, courage and compassion are second nature for the women and men of the NYPD."

Sewell said Officers Victor and Bokth exemplify these qualities, and added, "Thank you for your quick thinking, your selflessness and your bravery. For making all of us proud to count you among New York's Finest."

Victor said: "We were just doing our jobs, like we do on an everyday basis … like any other call that we respond to."

Bokth said simply: "We were concerned with the safety of the customer who fell onto the tracks."

 Bokth's body camera captured images of the No. 6 train speeding into the station just seconds after he and Victor, with the help of the unidentified civilian, got the fallen man up and onto the platform.

Calling it a "New York kind of story," Lieber said: "I'm a little tired of people trying to portray New Yorkers as uncaring, indifferent and unhelpful. It's not accurate. As we see in times of crisis, New Yorkers step up time and time again . . . It's real. It's in our DNA."  

Adams called the courage and compassion of the officers "extra ordinary" — and said their presence was thanks to the recent subway safety initiatives put in place by his administration, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the MTA. 

"Really, the goal was to be omnipresent," Adams said, noting major felonies are down 13% in the subways during the past 28 days. "People are telling us every day we're glad to see the officers … Right now, we're on the right train. We're going southbound with crime."

With AP

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”