Off-Duty EMT Simone Kelly Goes Viral for Saving a Life at the Knicks Parade (Video)

EMT Simone Kelly became the unlikely hero of the New York Knicks championship parade after she scaled a subway structure to revive a man who had apparently overdosed, according to the New York Post, which first reported the dramatic scene. The rescue unfolded on Thursday, June 18, 2026, as millions of fans flooded lower Manhattan for the team’s first-ever ticker-tape parade.

Video from the celebration shows a small group of revelers climbing onto a glass structure above the subway station, where an unconscious man had been spotted slumped and unresponsive. What started as chaos turned into a textbook example of bystander intervention, with a trained responder reaching the man and delivering the kind of care nurses recognize instantly.

The intervention began when camera operator Peter Shrieve-Don spotted the unconscious man and alerted nearby NYPD officers, then climbed the structure himself when help did not immediately arrive, he posted on social media. “I went up because the guy went out hard, no one was doing anything, and there wasn’t time,” Shrieve-Don said.

He was soon joined by Simone Kelly, an off-duty EMT, who pushed through the crowd, identified herself as “medical,” and took over care. Kelly administered Narcan nasal spray and performed sternum rubs on the man, who regained consciousness before a group of fans helped carry him down to waiting FDNY paramedics, the report states. He was strapped to a stretcher, and his condition was not released.

Kelly, 24, is a pre-med neuroscience, chemistry, and psychology student at Drew University who hopes to become a physician. Speaking to a content creator at the scene, she summed up the moment simply: “New Yorkers helping New Yorkers.”

Since going viral Simone has started a GoFundMe to support people to support OnPoint NYC. The donation page reads, 

My name is Simone Kelly, and I recently went viral for Narcan-ing an unresponsive man on top of a subway tower at the NY Knicks Parade. Supporting people on their addiction recovery journey has always been a cause I feel strongly about. People are dying trying to get help, and harm reduction is a concept where services are provided to those using drugs to increase their longevity (Narcan falls into this category!), hopefully long enough for them to get sober–whatever that looks like for them. OnPoint NYC is a great organization, serving the NYC community. I am an EMT and plan to go to medical school, hoping to focus on emergency psychiatry and substance abuse treatment. Thank you in advance to those who now have a renewed opportunity at life thanks to your donation.

🤔 Have you ever stepped in to help during an emergency while off the clock, or used naloxone outside of work? Tell us how it went in the comments.

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