Stephen Ellison

Man Recounts Brush With Death After Fall Onto BART Tracks

Rayshawn Jackson, 33, of Rancho Cordova said he was blessed when BART supervisor John O'Connor yanked him out of the path of an oncoming train

The man who had a brush with death at the Oakland Coliseum BART station Sunday recounted the incident Wednesday for KCRA-TV in Sacramento.

Rayshawn Jackson, 33, of Rancho Cordova said he was blessed when BART supervisor John O'Connor yanked him out of the path of an oncoming train after he stumbled off the station platform and onto the tracks.

"I knew I only had a couple of seconds, I heard the train, I felt the vibration on the rails. And I could see the light coming out of the tunnel," Jackson said. "As soon as I seen the light, I jumped up to try to get out of the way, and I missed my first jump. I did it again, and the man grabbed me out of midair and took me out of the way. It was a blessing, man."

Surveillance video showed O'Connor, a 20-year veteran of the agency, grabbing Jackson and pulling him to safety mere seconds before the train would have hit him.

"I was just fortunate that God put me there, and he got to see another day," O'Connor told NBC Bay Area on Monday. "There was no time to really make a decision. I just looked, and it just happened."

Jackson told KCRA he got separated from a group of friends while he was at the Raiders game and was looking for them at the BART station. He said he had been talking to one of them on his cellphone when he stumbled off the platform.

Jackson told KCRA his brush with death has prompted many people to reach out to him, including the Raiders, who invited him as a guest to their next home game Thursday night against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Contact Us