An MTA worker who was electrocuted by the third rail sang the praises of her colleague Tuesday after he performed life-saving CPR to the beat of the disco hit “Stayin’ Alive.”
Monique Brathwaite, 35, said she had no memory of the harrowing Friday mishap at the 145th St. station after regaining full consciousness at Harlem Hospital.
The badly-burned Brooklyn mother of four also had no idea that MTA signal maintainer David Martinez rushed to her side and performed chest compressions in the seconds after she collapsed.
“I learned that (David Martinez), he saved my life,” Brathwaite told the Daily News from her hospital bed, her arms covered in bandages and connected to IVs.
“I called him. I thanked him. I told him, ‘Thank you. You are my hero.'”
Brathwaite grimaced in pain as she acknowledged facing a long recovery.
The signal helper, who started on the job only seven months earlier, suffered extensive burns on both of her arms. She also experienced electric shock wounds on her left leg and thigh.
“My organs are fine, but I will need a lot of skin replacement,” Brathwaite said.
The brave transit worker spoke out a day after Martinez described how he sprang into action after seeing Brathwaite go down, smoke rising from her body.
Martinez said he immediately began performing hands-only CPR and followed the advice he read in a news story to use the Bee Gee’s 103-beats-per-minute rhythm as a guide.
“I’m grateful because she’s going to have a second chance at her life,” Martinez told The News.
Brathwaite only remembers what happened before the accident.
She recalled standing inside the tunnel and hearing someone announce that the job was almost finished.
“We were just standing there, to let them know when the train was coming. And then I woke up and I was here,” Brathwaite told The News.
“I opened my eyes and my sister was here. I asked her if this was real or fake? She said it was real.”
Transport Workers Union Local 100 Secretary-Treasurer Earl Phillips said the incident highlights the dangers city transit workers face every day.
The TWU is preparing for another round of contract negotiations with the MTA.
“Transit workers like Monique toil in uniquely perilous settings Phillips said.
In a soft voice, Brathwaite displayed her mettle, vowing to return to work following her recovery.
“I don’t know if I want to go back to the tracks immediately, but I’ll go back,” she said. “I’ll go back to transit.”
