ABT's Gray Davis Heroically Saves Man From Subway Tracks

As a member of American Ballet Theatre, Gray Davis is used to being in the spotlight. But this past weekend, all eyes were on Davis for a totally different reason, after he jumped down onto the subway tracks in New York City to save a man who had allegedly been pushed.

The New York Times reports that Davis was on his way home from the Metropolitan Opera House with his wife, ABT soloist Cassandra Trenary, and his mother when the events unfolded. Though Davis had been sitting out of performances while recovering from a herniated disc, Trenary had danced in ABT’s The Golden Cockerel that evening, which brought Davis and his mother to the theater.

Following the performance, they took the downtown train from 72nd Street as opposed to using their normal 66th Street station because of service disruption. This turned out to be beyond fortuitous for the 58-year-old homeless man who fell onto the tracks. Witnesses say a woman pushed him after an altercation. “At first I waited for somebody else to jump down there,” Davis told The New York Times. “People were screaming to get help. But nobody jumped down. So I jumped down.”

After lifting the man — who was knocked unconscious — to safety, Davis got himself back onto the platform before police arrived. Police brought the man to the hospital and arrested the woman involved in the incident.

“It was really scary,” he went on to tell The New York Times. “I don’t know if I had time to process it until I saw my wife coming down crying — then I realized it was scary.”

Carrying on as usual, on Monday, Davis returned to the theater to rehearse for the that evening’s performance of Le Corsaire. But before beginning rehearsals, Davis received a tribute from artistic director Kevin McKenzie, for not just playing the part of the hero onstage — but in real life, as well.

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