Editorial: In subway tragedy, a dearth of heroes

• Could the freelance photographer done anything to save Han?
• In 2007, Wesley Autrey in fact did dive in front of an oncoming subway to save a stranger.
• For everyone else rushing to pass judgment, look in the mirror first.

If anyone ever needed a hero, it was surely Ki-Suck Han, the man pushed onto the New York City subway tracks Monday and killed by an oncoming train.

But no hero emerged to save Han. Perhaps that's not surprising. Heroes are heroes because they are so rare and their actions are so extraordinary.

What's emerged instead is finger-pointing, much of it directed at freelance photographer R. Umar Abbasi, who snapped pictures of the doomed victim as the train bore down on him.

On Wednesday, as a 30-year-old homeless man was arrested on a second-degree murder charge, questions continued to swirl. Could Abbasi have done more than take pictures? Was there time for him or anyone else to save Han?

One of Abbasi's photos, splashed sensationally across the front page of the tabloid New York Post, suggested that two strong bystanders might have been able to yank Han to safety. But would-be rescuers were nowhere in sight. Was the attacker still nearby? Did bystanders fear for their lives? Or were they just doing what most people do instinctively, shrinking from danger instead of running toward it?

That is the trait that separates heroes from the rest of us. Once in a while, an everyday person rises to national attention after saving a life and makes us feel better about ourselves and the world.

A person like Lenny Skutnik, a federal worker who dove into the icy Potomac River in January 1982 to save a drowning woman after a jetliner crash.

A person like Leroy Petry, an Army sergeant in Afghanistan who, in May 2008, lunged toward a live grenade, grabbed and threw it as it exploded, losing his right hand in the blast but winning the Medal of Honor.

And a person like construction worker Wesley Autrey who did, in fact, dive in front of an oncoming New York subway train in 2007 to rescue a stranger.

Just as such heroes inspire, the lack of one in this week's subway death seems to have left a void. Perhaps that's why critics have been so quick to pounce on Abbasi.

Abbasi told the Post that about 22 seconds elapsed from the moment he heard gasps on the platform until the train struck. Abbasi said he was far away, running with his camera outstretched, "shooting and flashing, hoping the train driver would see something" and stop.

Maybe Abbasi could have done no more than he did. Perhaps he is rationalizing. That's between him and his conscience. For everyone else rushing to pass judgment, there's a better question to ask: Would they risk their own lives to save a stranger?