UPDATE APRIL 4: A TriMet spokeswoman says she has listened to a recording of a call it made to 911, and the transit agency told 911 that the man had been lying on the tracks.

Surveillance video shows a good Samaritan leap down from an elevated platform and hoist a disheveled man sitting on the MAX tracks out of harm's way. A train soon comes sliding into the underground Washington Park-Oregon Zoo station.

The bystander and his girlfriend talk to the man and stand between him and the tracks until a TriMet supervisor arrives and takes over.

The video camera isn't set up to capture sound, so it's impossible to hear what was said, but the substance of the conversations has become a point of contention -- raising larger questions about how TriMet responds to people who deliberately or accidentally step onto the tracks.

David Johnson, the good Samaritan, said the distressed man told him that he was trying to commit suicide by sitting on the tracks. Johnson and his girlfriend, Audrey Wells, said they repeatedly relayed that to the train operators and the TriMet supervisor at the scene.

But TriMet officials said the man was simply intoxicated and that they have no evidence that Johnson and Wells told their employees that the man was suicidal. Those details never made it to paramedics who came a short time later - and could have led to hospital treatment for the man.

As it was, the man refused medical help and said he wanted to go to detox -- where people typically are released back to the streets hours later after sobering up.

"That infuriates me," said Johnson, who learned how TriMet handled the man when he called to check on him a few days later. "I told them over and over again -- both Audrey and I said, 'Yeah, he wants to kill himself. He wants to be taken to OHSU (Hospital). He's in a mental crisis. He needs to be taken somewhere to get help.' I said those words. I did."

Johnson said the man appeared to be homeless. He thinks the reaction epitomizes society's callousness toward people living on the margins. Privacy rules make it impossible to find out what happened to him after he went to detox.

An internal investigation by TriMet concluded that its employees dealt with the man appropriately and followed protocol developed to manage frequent encounters with people who appear disoriented on or near its 60 miles of MAX tracks.

TriMet responds to all people in need the same -- calling 911 and asking for police and medics -- regardless of who they are or their appearance, an agency spokeswoman says.

"Did we render the proper aid to the individual?" said Harry Saporta, TriMet's executive director of safety and security. "We believe we did."

***

The rescue

The Oregonian/OregonLive learned of the dramatic rescue after receiving an email tip from a relative of Johnson's girlfriend.

The news organization contacted Johnson, 30, and Wells, 28, both Portland Community College students, to find out what happened.

The two say they were on their way home to Cedar Mill late on Saturday, March 4, after watching the superhero movie, "Logan." They were walking toward the platform to catch a MAX train at the underground station in Southwest Portland shortly before 10:30 p.m., when they saw a man on the tracks. They made a beeline for him.

Read a timeline of what happened and see footage of the surveillance video here.

Wells said she thought at first that he might be a maintenance worker doing repairs. Johnson thought the man had fallen. When they got closer, they realized the man was sitting in the middle of the tracks, propping himself up with his arms.

Johnson quickly jumped down about 2 feet to move the man, but he wouldn't budge. Johnson yanked on the man's arm, he said, and the man protested, barking: "You're breaking my arm!"

But Johnson persisted, lifting him onto the passenger platform with Wells lending a hand.

It was clear, Johnson said, that the man wasn't only drunk, but distraught. Johnson said the man kept repeating: "They stole all my stuff. They stole all my stuff." He also told Johnson and Wells that he'd lost all his family members and was alone in the world, they said.

"He specifically said, 'Yeah, I've been trying to kill myself,'" Johnson said.

Johnson thinks it's possible the man didn't initially mean to step onto the tracks, but once there, decided to stay.

"He was really limp, like dead weight," Johnson said. "It's like he didn't want to get up. That's just as powerful of a move. Inaction is a powerful action."

As the MAX train pulled up, Wells stepped inside and alerted the driver. Meanwhile, Johnson talked to the man for 10 to 15 minutes as they waited for help to arrive. Johnson said he told the man about low points in his own life and told him he could get past this.

"I said, 'I'm going to sit with you for a while because if you're going to try that again, it would break my heart.' And he said, 'It would break my heart, too.' And we both laughed," Johnson said. "That was kind of awesome because it lightened the mood."

Good Samaritans save man who was sitting on MAX tracks 9 Gallery: Good Samaritans save man who was sitting on MAX tracks

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TriMet's response

The Oregonian/OregonLive next contacted TriMet to confirm the story.

TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch said the only information she had available from agency logs was that an intoxicated 47-year-old man had urinated on himself and was sent to detox. The news organization requested video of the rescue and interviews with the three employees who spoke with Johnson and Wells.

In response to The Oregonian/OregonLive's questions about the incident, the agency opened an internal investigation and seven days later found that two operators and the supervisor all followed standard procedure.

The operators radioed in to MAX dispatchers, who in turn called 911 for police and an ambulance. The supervisor stayed with the man until detox transportation workers walked him to their van, Saporta said.

While the man was on the platform, the operators of other incoming trains were asked to slow to "walking speed" in case the man ended up on the tracks again, he said.

Contrary to information that TriMet first gave, Johnson and Wells did tell TriMet employees that the man had been lying on the tracks and needed to go to the hospital, confirmed Saporta and spokeswoman Roberta Altstadt. But according to the employees, Johnson and Wells never said anything about the man being suicidal, Saporta said.

TriMet didn't interview Johnson or Wells as part of its review.

The man also didn't tell the TriMet supervisor that he wanted to kill himself, Altstadt said.

Saporta and Altstadt said TriMet workers daily encounter people who are so intoxicated that they may not realize that they're in danger around the tracks. In contrast, Altstadt said suicides are rare. She could recall two instances in the last five years when people killed themselves on MAX tracks.

How to get help

If you have suicidal thoughts, you should talk to someone you trust, counselors say. Or call a 24-hour hotline -- they're set up to help people from all walks of live, including people who are homeless:

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline:

1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Multnomah County:

503-988-4888 or 1-800-716-9769

Clackamas County:

503-655-8585

Washington County:

503-291-9111

Clark County:

360-696-9560 or 1-800-686-8137

Portland Rescue Mission:

The Burnside shelter lobby is open 24 hours to help the homeless. 111 W. Burnside St. 503-647-7466 during business hours.

In this case, the surveillance video shows that the man was stumbling and fell onto the tracks because of his level of intoxication -- not because he wanted to kill himself, Altstadt and Saporta said.

TriMet officials rely on paramedics and police to determine treatment that a person might need, they said.

But representatives from American Medical Response and police said they didn't call detox. Altstadt said TriMet employees also didn't call for detox workers -- but when asked, she double-checked and found out that before paramedics or police arrived a MAX dispatcher told a 911 operator that detox might be needed.

That's the only indication that any agency summoned detox workers.

Portland police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said police weren't told that the man had been on the tracks. Rather, he said, they were told only that there was an intoxicated man at the MAX station.

That also was the only information relayed to American Medical Response, said AMR spokeswoman Lucie Drum. Medics would have found it helpful to know that the man had been on the tracks, Drum said.

"We would document that, absolutely," she said. "That would be important to relay to the medical care providers at the hospital."

But not knowing that, medics left after the man refused medical assistance and chose to go to detox. Several minutes later, workers for a detox-sobering center arrived and escorted the man away.

Johnson and Wells had earlier left the man with the TriMet supervisor. Wells said the supervisor told them he had everything under control and that they could go. Medics were walking up to the man, and Johnson said he thought the supervisor would relay the message that the man had tried to kill himself.

"I knew I should have stayed," Johnson said.

It's not clear why AMR and police didn't get the message that the man had been on the railway: TriMet did tell 911 that the man had been lying on the tracks, Altstadt said.

***

The aftermath

TriMet General Manager Neil McFarlane sent Johnson and Wells a thank-you email, even though transit officials have a different version of events.

"You saw a man in a dangerous situation and didn't hesitate to help him," McFarlane wrote. "Yours is a great example of the kind of actions we all aspire to -- which help us create the kind of safe community we aspire to live in."

He added: "I can assure you that aid arrived and attended to the gentleman," McFarlane wrote.

That line of the email rings hollow to Johnson and Wells. The couple still question the response and wonder if the man would have gotten medical treatment if he hadn't been dirty and unkempt.

"I really think if he was in a business suit, he would have gotten different treatment altogether," Johnson said. "My girlfriend keeps saying, 'If it would have been me, they would get me medical treatment.'"

Homeless people deserve a community's attention and care, Johnson said.

"There's a reason they are getting drunk," Johnson said. "It's to dull the pain from a society that shuns them."

But Johnson and Wells appreciate the overall message -- that people should all step up to help whenever possible.

"I'm really glad we were there, and I'm really proud of my boyfriend for jumping in and saving him," Wells said. "I never doubted that he would do something like that."

The two said they still think about the stranger and where he is now -- even if he's still alive.

TriMet and police don't have the man's name. Other officials who dealt with the man, including detox workers, said they can't release the man's name because of privacy rules.

Johnson remembers only the man's first name.

He hopes if the man hears about the story, that he'll reach out. Johnson wants to know he's OK. And if the man wants to talk, he's got a new friend who will listen.