HERO MTA WORKER SAVES A LIFE:
‘Eagle Team’ member uses CPR to save boy in B’klyn
When panicked parents needed help for their child, they looked to the men in MTA uniform.
No matter that Chantharath (Joe) Xumphonphakdy and his colleagues work in fare enforcement. They were the boy’s best hope of survival, and they jumped to the rescue.
Xumphonphakdy, a member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s “Eagle Team,” and his coworkers went to a Brooklyn IHOP for lunch in March 2017. The restaurant was near the last stop of the B44-Select Bus Service that they were monitoring, and the day was normal enough until the men were about to order.
Suddenly a man and a woman started to scream that their child wasn’t breathing.
The Eagle Team members were the only uniformed workers there.
“The father, he just looked around for help and we were there,” Xumphonphakdy said. “It was the right place, right time type of thing.”
Xumphonphakdy, 32, relied on his training from his time as an infantryman deployed to Iraq for a ninemonth tour in 2008. The veteran from Floral Park, Queens, laid the child on the floor by the restaurant entrance and started three sets of chest compression to revive him, while restaurant staff called 911.
His supervisor, Andrew Kennedy, helped by rubbing the child’s sternum until EMS and police could arrive and take him to nearby Woodhull Hospital.
“This was the first time I actually had to administer CPR — and to a child nonetheless,” Xumphonphakdy said, recalling the “the sigh of relief of his parents, and the crowd is cheering you on, too.”
Xumphonphakdy exemplified kind of initiative and selfless service that the Daily News honors in its Hometown Heroes program. The News’ expanded program covers transit workers, educators, public servants, medical professionals and youth.
The Daily News is seeking more nominees like Xumphonphakdy for the Hometown Heroes program.
"He’s one of my good guys. He always goes above and beyond of what’s expected from a special inspector,” Kennedy said. “He’s always willing to help his teammates.”
William O’Leary, the Eagle Team superintendent, nominated Xumphonphakdy for a Hometown Hero award.
He said his worker is humble and took it as another part of the job, but “to that family, he’s a hero.”
As for Xumphonphakdy, he said he offered the same aid he’d hope he and his loved ones would receive.
“You would want someone to step up to the plate,” he said. “We’re in uniform, we’re MTA.”