Cop Who Saved Man At Secaucus Train Station Wins $500K

SECAUCUS, NJ — The NJ Transit police officer who saved a man's life two summers ago at the Secaucus Junction train station coincidentally won nearly half a million dollars on NBC game show "The Wall" Monday night.

Patch covered the dramatic rescue at the Frank Lautenberg train station when it happened, on Friday morning Aug. 26, 2016: NJ Transit officer Victor Ortiz was called to the station for a report of an agitated man. When Ortiz got there, the man allegedly told him, "I'm not going to jail," and jumped from the platform onto the tracks. A train was rapidly approaching, and trains can go incredibly fast through that station.

At the time, Ortiz said he had to make a split-second decision. He admitted at first he thought about not risking his own life to get the man.

"I saw the train rapidly approaching, and in an instant I said to myself, 'I'm going to have to let this guy go because otherwise he's going to take me with him,'" Ortiz told CBS at the time. "It's just a matter of seconds there. On the flip side, I said to myself, 'Let me give one more tug on hopes I can pull him through.'"

Ortiz jumped down onto the tracks and pulled him up, just seconds before the train pulled into the station. Police did not identify the rescued man nor his condition. There was a YouTube video of the rescue, but it appears to have been taken down.

Ortiz and his wife, Evelyn, appeared on the show Monday night and walked away with a prize of over $499,000. "The Wall" is hosted by Chris Hardwick and combines trivia questions and a pachinko game.

Image via NJ Transit