BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer
EDISON — For a Piscataway man’s recent heroic efforts in saving another person, Edison Police Benevolent Local 75 is paying it forward.
The Edison PBA presented Anil Vennavalli, 34, Piscataway, a check on May 1 for $1,000 to thank him for his selfless act as well as a way to make up for the loss of belongings which were stolen.
Vennavalli had dropped his backpack containing his laptop computer and leaped onto the Central Avenue train station’s tracks to rescue another commuter who fainted and fell on April 28. While he carried the unconscious woman to safety, an unknown thief stole his backpack, police said.
The backpack contained Vennavalli’s laptop computer and headphones, valued at $700, about $200 in cash and his work identification card, police said.
Madhuri Recherla, 26, of Edison, had fainted and toppled off an Edison Train Station platform onto the northbound tracks shortly after 7:40 a.m., according to police.
Police said Recherla, who was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, had suffered a fractured knee and broken ankle during the fall.
The investigation into the stolen backpack is ongoing.
