Subway Samaritan Now Must Survive Onrushing Media

He's told his story so many times it comes in gasps out of order, almost by rote.

Mainly, Autrey recalls seeing the lights of an oncoming train. "I thought, ' Somebody's got to go save this guy.' Then I thought, 'Not somebody, fool -- you got to save him!' "

As he held Hollopeter down in that trough, he spoke into the student's ear. "I said, 'You fell under the train tracks. . . . Don't move or both of us'll die.' "

And with that the train slid over them.

"Once the first car grazed my blue hat -- I felt the bottom of the train rub my hat and pull it down and the hat move back on my head."

Hollopeter asked: "Am I dead yet? Are we dead?"

"You are very much alive," Autrey replied.

Autrey said construction work taught him to think fast and maneuver in contained spaces. And the instinct to do good?

"My mom brought us all up like that," he said.

But the attention was something else. "They've been swarming all day. I feel like Princess Diana."

On Thursday he had an interview with CNN and did the morning talk shows. He traveled in a limousine to meet with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

In the Blue Room at City Hall, Bloomberg suggested Autrey might run for mayor, or even president, and awarded him the Bronze Medallion for civic achievement, which has been awarded to Martin Luther King Jr. and Muhammad Ali.

A Walt Disney Co. executive offered an all-expense-paid trip to Disneyland in California. Autrey said Trump was going to give him a check for $10,000 after the news conference.

"What I did is something that every New Yorker should do. If you see somebody in distress, do the right thing. Help out. Okay?"

Autrey left City Hall in a cloud of confusion. Reporters pigeonholed his 6-year-old daughter; his sister wanted to talk privately; no one could find the address of Trump's office.

"I need my privacy 'cause I'm not used to this," he said. "I don't know how superstars deal."