BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer
EDISON — A superhero feat was followed by a crime of opportunity, which Police Chief Thomas Bryan has called “nothing less than appalling and disgusting.”
Last week Anil Vennavalli, 34, of Piscataway, 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. While he carried the unconscious woman to safety, an unknown thief stole his backpack, police said.
“This theft, perpetrated in the midst of such a selfless good deed, is nothing less than appalling and disgusting,” said Police Chief Thomas Bryan.
Madhuri Recherla, 26, of Edison, fainted and toppled off an Edison Train Station platform onto the northbound tracks shortly after 7:40 a.m. on April 28, said investigating Officer James Navas.
While Vennavalli was helping the woman, police said an unidentified thief among the crowd of morning commuters stole the Piscataway man’s backpack which contained his laptop computer and headphones, valued at $700, about $200 in cash and his work identification card, police said.
Recherla was semi-conscious when Police Officers Navas and Lisa Cimmino arrived at the train station. She was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center, in New Brunswick, for treatment.
Police said Recherla had suffered a fractured knee and broken ankle during the fall.
The investigation into the stolen backpack is ongoing.