School of the Arts student hit by the 1 train

Early Saturday morning Justin Grace, a student at the School of the Arts, was hit by the 1 train while trying to retrieve a backpack that had fallen into the tracks.

Grace suffered injuries to his head and lower body, but escaped any major trauma.

“My upper body is totally fine, but it spun me around and my head smashed against a pillar,” he said. “But besides that I came out completely unscathed, no brain damage.”

Grace was knocked unconscious by the train but doesn’t remember the events directly preceding the accident because of the blow to his head. His knowledge of what happened that morning is from eyewitness accounts.

Witnesses say he dropped his backpack into the tracks and jumped down to retrieve it. Grace says he isn’t sure if he had gotten stuck down in the tracks or if he jumped immediately in front of the train.

Grace was on his way to catch a 6:30 a.m. bus to visit his girlfriend in Boston. He had just participated in a comedy show and had gone to a couple of parties, but he said he “was lucid throughout the entire night” before being hit by the train.

He also emphasized that the incident was not the fault of the Metropolitan Transit Authority. “The guy driving the train saw me and stopped. It wasn’t the MTA’s fault, it was totally on me,” he said.

Grace got staples and stitches for a laceration on his head, but didn’t have a concussion, only suffering minor injuries to his pelvis and lower body. He was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital and kept overnight for observation.

Grace said his friends from Columbia showed up “in full-force” to support him after the incident. “I’m so completely lucky and I can’t even believe it. ... It’s really scary how close I came to dying,” he said.

“The one weird thing is, I’m the least spiritual person in the entire world, however, that day was the third anniversary of my father’s death. If someone was looking out for me, that’s the only reason I could figure I’m alive,” he said.

Grace graduated from Columbia College last spring. He is currently studying film at the School of the Arts.