TWU Teamwork Saves Man and Dog Who Fell Onto Tracks

TWU member and TSS to the rescue. Kathy Ann Caesar is at the top.
TWU member and TSS to the rescue. Kathy Ann Caesar is at the top.

OCTOBER 31—October 4 was a ruff night for first-year Conductor Kathy Ann Caesar when she pulled into the 14th Street/Union Square station on the N train around 10:30 PM and heard a clamor of passengers alerting her that a man had fallen onto the southbound tracks. She called control to stop train traffic in the other direction and then saw another shocking sight—a dog running on the tracks, heading south.

The man who had fallen was lifted onto the platform and into a stretcher, Caesar said, but the dog, who was with the man, kept running into the tunnel. Caesar followed, her N train also heading north.

“By the time I got to 34th Street, the dog was at 34th Street. Passengers told me, ‘there’s a dog on the tracks!’ I thought, ‘my God, the dog again? I called control again, and they asked me if I could see the dog, and if there was someone who could grab him. But no – the dog just kept on running northbound.”

The terrified pooch fled from Union Square to Times Square, then to 59th Street, to the Steinway Street Station, and ended up at Forest Hills-71st St., where he was rescued from the tracks by the NYPD.

Just coming up on three years with NYC Transit, Caesar, 36, became a Conductor in July, after taking a promotional exam while working her first job as a CTA. The incident made for one of the more memorable shifts she's worked, but she's relieved at the outcome.

"It was crazy for me – all in one night. I’ve never had to call control before. The guy got saved, the dog got saved.”

Besides Sister Caesar, the MTA gave credit for the happy ending to Train Operator Richard Canfield, Train Operator Jin Yu, and Train Service Supervisor Gurmit Singh Jaswal, each in different parts of the system when they reported the sightings to the rail control center.