Samuel L. Jackson Dragged By Subway Train—Thought He’d Die

Samuel L. Jackson relived a terrifying brush with death and a busted knee during his first-ever podcast appearance.

Jackson recounted how he was dragged by a moving subway train in New York City just days before Christmas in 1988.

Speaking on the Mad, Sad & Bad podcast hosted by Paloma Faith, the Pulp Fiction icon detailed the moment his foot got caught in the door of the last car on the A train at a long station platform.

“I was in the middle door of the last car, and it was a long-a*s train station,” Jackson said. “And when the door closed on my foot, (the) train took off. So, I’m sitting there thinking, I’m like, ‘Oh, f**k, I’m going to die.’”

The 76-year-old actor said he watched the tunnel get closer as he was dragged along the platform, unable to find anything to hold onto.

“I could see the tunnel coming, and I couldn’t figure out anything that I could grab or hold on to and get close to the train so I wouldn’t get killed in the tunnel,” he said.

A passenger using crutches ultimately saved him by pulling the emergency cord, slowing the train.

“The guy who pulled the emergency cord was on crutches. Everybody else in there was trying to open the door, get my foot out the door, push and push and pull and try and take my shoe off. And he was going to the emergency cord and he finally pulled it and stopped it,” Jackson explained.

As he was being dragged, Jackson said his thoughts turned to the holidays.

“When I was being dragged, all I could think of was, it was going to be a really sad Christmas, because it was like a few days before Christmas. So I was going to miss my birthday and all that. I was like, ‘Damn, it’s gonna be fked up. It’s gonna be a fked up Christmas this year.’”

When Faith asked if the near-death experience made him more philosophical, Jackson replied, “Fk no, I’m Black. I got my own problems, you know. Just being. I grew up in segregation, so I’ve been, you know, dealing with, you know, existential bullst my whole life.”

In a 2021 interview with Vanity Fair, Jackson revealed he tore his ACL and meniscus during the accident, underwent surgery and spent nearly a year recovering on crutches.

He later sued the New York City Transit Authority and was awarded $540,000.