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A train was coming and a boy was about to jump. They had seconds to try to stop him.
Local Perspective
A train was coming and a boy was about to jump. They had seconds to try to stop him.
By Theresa Vargas
Local columnist who previously wrote for the local enterprise team about poverty, race and people with disabilities.
March 30 at 7:30 AM
Only later, when he saw the video, did Metro Transit Police officer Joseph Munno realize how close the train had come to hitting the boy. .... Munno and fellow officer Megan Blaskewicz were on patrol at the Stadium-Armory metro station when it happened. They usually walk through the station when school lets out and on that afternoon, as they tell it, they had walked onto the platform to check on a loud group of high schoolers. The officers thought the teenagers might be fighting, but found they were just playing around.
Then the officers heard shouts. They followed the yells to the other end of the platform and saw two young men. They were brothers, but the officers didn’t know that yet. They didn’t have time to ask questions or make much sense of the situation when they saw the younger boy toss off his backpack and head toward the edge.
The lights on the platform were blinking, a train was coming and the officers had no doubt that the boy was about to jump. ... Munno reached out and pulled him back. ... “As I grabbed him, the train brushed past us,” Munno told me when I spoke to him and Blaskewicz recently about the incident. ... Both said that it wasn’t until later — after they learned the boy was 13 and autistic and saw a video captured by a Metro camera — that it hit them just how quickly it had all happened and how easily the situation could have turned out differently.
....
The only reason I know about the 13-year-old and can tell you about him is because Munno and Blaskewicz received a commendation on Thursday from the general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. The recognition was a brief moment during a larger meeting, but I requested to talk to the officers afterward because their encounter with that teenager gives us an important glimpse into what is occurring with children right here in the Washington area, right now. (Officials with WMATA also tried contacting the family on my behalf but could not reach them in recent days).
....
To reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, call 800-273-TALK (8255). You can also text a crisis counselor by messaging the Crisis Text Line at 741741.
Theresa Vargas is a local columnist for The Washington Post. Before coming to The Post, she worked at Newsday in New York. She has degrees from Stanford University and Columbia University School of Journalism. Follow https://twitter.com/byTheresaVargas
A train was coming and a boy was about to jump. They had seconds to try to stop him.
By Theresa Vargas
Local columnist who previously wrote for the local enterprise team about poverty, race and people with disabilities.
March 30 at 7:30 AM
Only later, when he saw the video, did Metro Transit Police officer Joseph Munno realize how close the train had come to hitting the boy. .... Munno and fellow officer Megan Blaskewicz were on patrol at the Stadium-Armory metro station when it happened. They usually walk through the station when school lets out and on that afternoon, as they tell it, they had walked onto the platform to check on a loud group of high schoolers. The officers thought the teenagers might be fighting, but found they were just playing around.
Then the officers heard shouts. They followed the yells to the other end of the platform and saw two young men. They were brothers, but the officers didn’t know that yet. They didn’t have time to ask questions or make much sense of the situation when they saw the younger boy toss off his backpack and head toward the edge.
The lights on the platform were blinking, a train was coming and the officers had no doubt that the boy was about to jump. ... Munno reached out and pulled him back. ... “As I grabbed him, the train brushed past us,” Munno told me when I spoke to him and Blaskewicz recently about the incident. ... Both said that it wasn’t until later — after they learned the boy was 13 and autistic and saw a video captured by a Metro camera — that it hit them just how quickly it had all happened and how easily the situation could have turned out differently.
....
The only reason I know about the 13-year-old and can tell you about him is because Munno and Blaskewicz received a commendation on Thursday from the general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. The recognition was a brief moment during a larger meeting, but I requested to talk to the officers afterward because their encounter with that teenager gives us an important glimpse into what is occurring with children right here in the Washington area, right now. (Officials with WMATA also tried contacting the family on my behalf but could not reach them in recent days).
....
To reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, call 800-273-TALK (8255). You can also text a crisis counselor by messaging the Crisis Text Line at 741741.
Theresa Vargas is a local columnist for The Washington Post. Before coming to The Post, she worked at Newsday in New York. She has degrees from Stanford University and Columbia University School of Journalism. Follow https://twitter.com/byTheresaVargas