Make New York Post a Preferred Source They were heaven-sent.
Two hero NYPD detectives rescued a woman in an angel costume who fell onto the subway tracks at a lower Manhattan subway station in the wee hours after Halloween, video shared exclusively with The Post shows.
Detectives Brett Devine and Carmelo Stracuzzi were working an overtime tour in the Chambers Street station when the 24-year-old woman plummeted from the platform in what cops called an accidental fall just after 1 a.m. on Nov. 1.
“We heard someone yelling that somebody had fallen onto the subway tracks,” Devine, 36, recalled of the incident at the No. 1/2/3 subway station.
Devine can be heard in the video asking his partner for a flashlight because he thought it could help them alert any oncoming train operators.
“At that point, we ran over and I observed a female lying unconscious on the railbed,” Devine recalled. “She was totally unconscious and I jumped down onto the tracks.”
The young woman was perilously close to the electrified third rail, the cops said.
Devine, who’s the dad of four daughters, ages 1 to 19, said the platform was a lot higher than he realized.
“I couldn’t believe how high the platform was because that’s the first time I’ve been down there,” Devine said. “It’s very deceiving.”
Devine, who joined the force in 2012, checked the young woman to see if she was conscious.
“I kind of gave her a shoulder tap to see if she would wake up, which she didn’t,” Devine said.
Both detectives also heard an announcement that a train was arriving, but they weren’t sure if it was for the downtown local No. 1 track, where the fallen angel lay unconscious, or the express tracks on the other side of the platform.
“I remember seeing lights at the end of the tunnel,” said Stracuzzi, 42, who wasn’t sure if he was seeing the glare of an oncoming train.
“I’m like, ‘Oh boy . . . we gotta kind of move a little quickly here,’” said the detective, who joined the department in 2011. “You kind of get tunnel vision.”
“At that point, I went under the arms and Detective Stracuzzi grabbed the legs and we hoisted her onto the subway platform,” Devine said.
The woman, whose identity wasn’t released, was limp when the two pushed her up to safety. Then, they had to pull themselves up from the 4-foot-deep tracks.
Another officer who was on the platform helped pull the cops up to safety.
Two minutes later, a train barreled into the station — but it was on the express track across the platform.
“We’re not sure if it was rerouted or not,” Stracuzzi said.
“That’s not an everyday occurrence for us, as far as having someone fall onto the subway tracks,” said Devine.
Devine said a good Samaritan helped them get the woman up the station’s stairs. The officers then took her to a hospital in their own car because 911 was busy after Halloween festivities.
Stracuzzi, who has two daughters, ages 4 and 7, said his oldest will be excited to see the video of him working to save an angel.
“I’m just thankful we were there to help her,” said Stracuzzi. “Who knows what could have happened if we weren’t there?”
The Detectives’ Endowment Association hailed the cops as heroes.
“Detectives Stracuzzi and Devine’s heroic actions say everything about the men and women who carry the gold shield,” DEA President Scott Munro said. “They prove exactly why they’re called the greatest detectives in the world and this union is proud to represent them.”
A police source said all three were being watched over that night.
“You see those wings on the track from the woman’s costume and can’t help wondering if an angel was looking out for all of them,” the source said.
