Were it not for the actions of an off-duty Chicago TSA worker acting on instinct, this story would have had a much different ending.
When 50-year-old Eddie Palacios saw a woman fall onto the rail tracks at the Chicago Avenue CTA Blue Line station with a train swiftly approaching on Wednesday, he did not hesitate to jump down to her in an attempt to stop the oncoming train.
He was successful, and a DNAinfo Chicago reporter -- Jon Hansen -- just happened to be there to capture the whole thing on cell phone video (embedded above).
Palacios explained to NBC Chicago that he heard "everyone just kind of let out a gasp" and start screaming "No!" when the woman fell off of the platform, at which point he -- while wearing a bright orange University of Illinois hoodie -- jumped onto the track and started waving his arms to get the train operator's attention.
The train came to a stop and the woman was pulled off of the tracks and taken to a hospital after sustaining a head injury.
Don't go calling Palacios, who has lived in Chicago his entire life and works at O'Hare Airport, a hero, though. This modest man didn't find his actions to be all that extraordinary.
"It was really no big deal for me, and it still isn’t. I’m kind of embarrassed," he told CBS Chicago. "I mean, I know that people that I work for, people that I work with, they would have probably done the same thing."
He added to DNAinfo Chicago that he hopes one day someone else will be there when or if his children are similarly in need of a helping hand.
"We're good in America, but we still need each other. That's all I can say," he told DNAinfo.
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