Samuel L. Jackson Recounts Terrifying Moment He Was ‘Dragged by a Subway Train’ in N.Y.C.

Samuel L. Jackson is recounting a scary experience from 30 years ago that nearly took his life.

On an episode of the Mad Sad Bad podcast published June 3, the star, now 76, spoke about a time he “got dragged by a subway train in New York.” Jackson explained how his foot got stuck on the subway train door before taking off.

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

Jackson said as the subway accelerated, dragging him along, he said “all I could think of was, it was going to be a really sad Christmas, because it was like a few days before Christmas.”

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Jackson explained that the train did stop, but it wasn’t until two years after that he learned who saved his life. Amid the actor’s lawsuit with the New York Transit Authority, which he won $540,000 from, Jackson discovered “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 said.

The Pulp Fiction actor previously recalled the harrowing ordeal to Vanity Fair, saying the incident happened in December 1988 while trying to help a woman who had dropped something. His injuries included a torn ACL and meniscus, and he subsequently spent 10 months on crutches and over a year in physical rehab.

Jackson said while his near-death incident didn’t cause the rumored “life passing before you” experience, he did note “everything does slow down.”

“Things slow down when you’re looking at death,” he said. “I’ve been in car accidents and if I see them, it’s almost like everything is slowing down and you know there’s nothing you can do to get out of the way.”