Subway Hero Gets the Red Carpet Treatment

Two days after his dramatic rescue of a subway rider, Wesley Autrey has become something like a lottery winner or game show champion.

Mr. Autrey's was showered with gifts and accolades yesterday from the likes of Donald Trump, Mayor Bloomberg, and the Walt Disney Company.

Mr. Trump gave Mr. Autrey a check for $10,000 during a visit to Trump Towers on Fifth Avenue. A Disney representative presented him with a week-long "all expense paid trip" for his family to Disney World and gave him tickets to see "The Lion King " on Broadway (with backstage tour passes). Mr. Bloomberg awarded the Harlem resident a shiny bronze medallion, the highest civic recognition.

Others have piled on gifts as well. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority gave Mr. Autrey a year's supply of MetroCards. The New York Film Academy — the school attended by the 20-year-old film student Mr. Autrey saved — gave him $5,000 and scholarships for his two daughters to attend acting classes. His boss bought him a "hero" sandwich earlier this week.

Mr. Autrey had only eight hours of sleep during the whirlwind 48 hours that followed the rescue. Last night, he appeared on the "Late Show with David Letterman" and next week he'll be flown to California to be a guest on the "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

During the City Hall ceremony, Mr. Bloomberg called him the "hero of Harlem" and suggested to Mr. Autrey's daughters, Shuqui, 6, and Syshe, 4, that their father could run for office. "We need another presidential candidate," he said.

The very nature of his act raises countless sociological questions.

His explanation is simple. "I just did it because I saw someone in distress," he told reporters. "Someone needed help."

After the incident, he refused to take an ambulance because he "didn't want to waste taxpayer money." Instead, he went to work at his construction job, showing up only a half hour late.

His place as the ultimate Good Samaritan could be good fodder for the next Harrison Ford action movie, but it has also intrigued sociologists.

A professor of sociology at University of California Riverside, Toby Miller, said Mr. Autrey's rescue "taps into the ancient biblical" concept of helping those in need and is central to the ethos of American volunteerism. Mr. Miller and others said the move was especially impressive because people are often less inclined to help when others are nearby because there is no clear chain of command.

An associate professor of psychology at the New School for Social Research, Emanuele Castano, said via e-mail that many people are more apt to step into a dangerous situation when there is "imminent danger of death."

Others questioned why the response to his heroism came in the form of money and gifts. Some suggested that money should not need to follow a good deed, while others said it could serve to prompt others to step in.

Mr. Autrey said he did not do it for any of the money or fame that has followed. He said he did it because when he looked around the platform, he realized nobody else was going to act.

He summed up the outpouring by saying: "Good things happen when you do good."

"It's like a fairy tale come true. What better way to start the year off than saving a life?" he said.