They were truly heaven-sent.
Two heroic NYPD detectives sprang into action to save a woman dressed in an angel costume after she fell onto the subway tracks at a Lower Manhattan station in the early hours following Halloween, exclusive video shared with The Post shows.
Detectives Brett Devine and Carmelo Stracuzzi were working an overtime shift at the Chambers Street subway station when the 24-year-old woman plunged from the platform just after 1 a.m. on Nov. 1. Police described the incident as an accidental fall.
NYPD Detectives Brett Devine and Carmelo Stracuzzi rushed to help a woman who fell onto subway tracks in Lower Manhattan on Nov. 1, 2026.
“We heard someone yelling that somebody had fallen onto the subway tracks,” Devine, 36, recalled of the frightening incident at the No. 1/2/3 subway station.
Video footage captures Devine asking his partner for a flashlight as the officers respond to the emergency.
“At that point, we ran over and I observed a female lying unconscious on the railbed,” Devine recalled. “She was totally unconscious and I jumped down onto the tracks.”
The woman was lying dangerously close to the electrified third rail, putting her at serious risk of electrocution, according to the detectives.
The detectives were working an overtime shift when they leaped onto the 1/2/3 train tracks at the Chambers Street station in Lower Manhattan to reach the fallen woman.
Devine, a father of four daughters ranging in age from 1 to 19, said he was surprised by how high the subway platform was once he jumped down.
“I couldn’t believe how high the platform was because that’s the first time I’ve been down there,” Devine recalled. “It’s very deceiving.”
Despite the unexpected drop, Devine said he didn’t hesitate to act as instinct took over.
The 24-year-old woman, who police believe accidentally fell from the platform, appeared to be wearing an angel costume complete with wings.
Devine, who joined the NYPD in 2012, immediately checked on the woman to see if she was responsive.
“I kind of gave her a shoulder tap to see if she would wake up, which she didn’t,” Devine recalled.
The two detectives also heard an announcement warning that a train was approaching. However, they weren’t sure whether it was heading toward the downtown local No. 1 track, where the unconscious woman was lying, or the express tracks on the opposite side of the platform.
The detectives quickly lifted the woman onto the platform before pulling themselves up with assistance from other officers.
“I remember seeing lights at the end of the tunnel,” recalled Stracuzzi, 42, who wasn’t sure whether he was looking at the glare of an approaching train.
“I’m like, ‘Oh boy . . . we gotta kind of move a little quickly here,’” said Stracuzzi, who joined the NYPD in 2011. “You kind of get tunnel vision.”
With the woman safely off the tracks, both detectives knew exactly what needed to happen next.
The woman was rushed to the hospital with minor injuries, police said.
“At that point, I went under the arms and Detective Stracuzzi grabbed the legs and we hoisted her onto the subway platform,” Devine recalled.
The unidentified woman was limp as the two detectives lifted her to safety. Once she was back on the platform, the officers faced another challenge: climbing out of the 4-foot-deep subway tracks themselves.
A fellow officer waiting on the platform stepped in to help pull both detectives back to safety.
Both detectives recalled hearing announcements warning of incoming trains, but they managed to climb off the tracks before a train pulled into the station about two minutes later.
The train sped through the station on the express track across the platform from where the woman had fallen.
“We’re not sure if it was rerouted or not,” Stracuzzi said.
Devine said the dramatic rescue was far from an everyday occurrence for the officers.
“That’s not an everyday occurrence for us, as far as having someone fall onto the subway tracks,” he said.
A Good Samaritan helped the detectives carry the woman up the station stairs before the officers rushed her to the hospital in their own vehicle, they said.
Devine said the passerby assisted them in getting the woman out of the subway station. With 911 services overwhelmed by emergencies following Halloween festivities, the detectives decided to drive her to the hospital themselves.
Stracuzzi, a father of two daughters, ages 4 and 7, said his oldest child will be thrilled to see footage of her dad helping save a woman dressed as an angel.
“I’m just thankful we were there to help her,” Stracuzzi said. “Who knows what could have happened if we weren’t there?”
The two detectives risked their own lives by jumping onto the subway tracks to rescue the woman, who fell onto the rails around 1 a.m. in the early hours after Halloween.
The Detectives’ Endowment Association praised Devine and Stracuzzi for their actions, calling them heroes.
“Detectives Stracuzzi and Devine’s heroic actions say everything about the men and women who carry the gold shield,” DEA President Scott Munro said. “They prove exactly why they’re called the greatest detectives in the world and this union is proud to represent them.”
A police source suggested the woman and the two officers may have had a guardian angel watching over them that night.
“You see those wings on the track from the woman’s costume and can’t help wondering if an angel was looking out for all of them,” the source said.
