MARTA heroes want to meet woman they saved

By Chelsea Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Good Samaritan and a train operator who saved a blind woman from being hit by a MARTA train on July 12 had a one-track mind at Monday's news conference: modesty.

MARTA general manager and CEO  Beverly Scott didn't hesitate to deem the two "heroes" and "extraordinary people" as she explained just how grateful MARTA is for avoiding what could have been "a very, very terrible situation."

"We potentially were looking at a death, possibly two," Scott said. "Our operator is dealing with 750 volts of electricity, [the victim] could've been fried -- I'm just being very candid here."

Samuel White Jr. and MARTA operator Ayana Dunlap-Bell, both of Atlanta, recounted the could-be tragedy and their resulting actions of that Monday afternoon two weeks ago.

Addie Norfleet, a legally-blind resident of Atlanta, walked down the stairs to the train platform at Medical Center station and didn't realize she was walking over the edge and into the tracks of an incoming train.

White, who was standing nearby, frantically signaled Dunlap-Bell to brake and jumped onto the tracks to rescue Norfleet.

"Somebody had to make a move," White said.  "I just couldn’t just sit there and watch a lady get mangled like that in the tracks. In my mind, I just had to get the lady out of that situation. She was legally blind, and I just couldn’t see that happen in front of my face like that."

Dunlap-Bell said at first she didn't see Norfleet on the tracks.

"[Norfleet] was already on the tracks when I came into the station -- I saw [White]," Dunlap-Bell said. "I mean, there were other people on the tracks jumping around, and that caused me to slow down even further ... but I zeroed in on him and he pointed down to the tracks, and that’s when my attention focused in on her. It just kind of went at warp speed, and the train stopped."

Both Dunlap-Bell and Scott explained an important factor came into play for the train's speedy stop.

"It was raining that day," Dunlap-Bell said. "We have to operate manually and go into platforms slower. If it hadn’t been raining, we would’ve been in automatic mode."

Scott said although trains almost always operate on an automatic control setting, the July 12 emergency is precisely why MARTA utilizes train operators.

"The operator is there for professional judgment," Scott said.

Training gives an operator the ability to take the train out of automatic and put it into manual mode, she said.

They have been called heroes countless times by MARTA administrators, but both White and Dunlap-Bell said they were just doing what they were supposed to do.

"That’s one of the -- no, that is the scariest thing that has ever happened to me. Ever," Dunlap-Bell said. "I just look at it as doing the job I do every day. It’s not about being a hero; it's doing the things you are supposed to do."

White, a floor technician at Northside Hospital, said right after the incident, he asked Norfleet if she was all right and then left on the next train. He didn't even tell her his name.

"I wasn't looking for recognition," White said. "I’m just glad I was able to help someone, that could’ve been someone’s mother, somebody’s sister. I just wanted to come to the aid and help a person."

Norfleet was visiting family in New York at the time of the news conference, and neither Dunlap-Bell or White have talked with her since the incident.

Norfleet told Good Morning America that she really wants to meet those who rescued her.

"If I could get my hands on them, I'd give them the biggest hug," Norfleet told Good Morning America. "I'd say thank you, Jesus. Thank you, because Jesus put you in the right place and the right time, for the right person, me."

"I would really like to meet the lady," White said. "I've worried about her and wondered, ‘Who is she?'"

Scott said she plans to recognize the two heroes and Norfleet at a committee meeting Thursday.

Dunlap-Bell said after having time to reflect on the incident, she couldn't help but think she wasn't the only driving force behind her train.

"I do this every day, and the train is a machine and machines malfunction," she said. "But on this particular day and at this particular moment, there was more than just me operating that train. There had to be something else happening at that time. All the factors lined up. God was operating that train. He was on it."