Blind man and black Lab guide dog survive fall from subway platform in Harlem

A blind man and his guide dog were able to successfully duck under an arriving train after they tumbled off the northbound A train platform at the 125th Street station in Harlem.

Cecil Williams, 60, and his black Lab, Orlando, were able to survive the fall and a close call with the train with barely a scratch between them.

Transit flagman Larmont Smith saw the whole thing.

“I only had seconds,” Smith told New York Daily News. “I yelled, ‘Put your head down! Put your head down!’ I don’t think he heard me the first two times, but after the third time, he put his head down. One more second, he would have been dead.”

He was amazed at how Orlando stuck with his owner.

“The dog was sitting right in front of him, kind of like he was guarding him,” Smith said. “I give that dog a lot of credit. It was incredible. Normally an animal, or another human being, would run. That dog stayed right there.”

Williams was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital for treatment; Orlando was unhurt.

“It’s a miracle!” said Williams’ girlfriend, Cynthia. “He’s doing great. He’s feeling fine. He’s resting…He just remembers falling and somebody calling him and that’s basically it; he doesn’t remember much else.”

FDNY veteran Danny O’Sullivan helped rescue Williams. “We checked out under the train and found that he was not trapped; he was just in between the rails,” O’Sullivan said. “It must have been a lucky day for him. This definitely is a miracle.”

[New York Daily News]