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Tragedy brought both hope and heroism to Flushing this week, as Andrew Tsai made his first public appearance since the horrific February car crash that nearly ended his life.

Tsai, 18, will never walk with both his legs again. His tall, lanky frame might never be able to shoot a basketball like it once did and he will forever need the help of a prosthetic, but Tuesday, he thanked an unlikely hero for saving his life.

Robert Stridiron, a freelance New York Post photographer, was following a lead that an auto accident had occurred around 9 a.m., Feb. 17, in front of Francis Lewis High School. Police had just arrived to the scene and Stridiron, a registered EMT, was following close by with his camera, not knowing what to expect.

Minutes earlier, a reckless driver, Zongling Zhu, 48, fled the scene of a previous accident, sped across Utopia Parkway and slammed her minivan into Tsai as he was walking to school on Booth Memorial Avenue. Tsai was pinned underneath a separate vehicle involved in the crash. His right leg was severed on impact. Stridiron used his instincts and handed his camera to a colleague and freed the boy from the wreckage.

Three months later, Tsai is now home from the hospital and is confined to using either a wheelchair or a cane.
When it was time for Tsai to share his thoughts, he looked down and then up into a sea of television cameras situated in front of him.

For the next 30 seconds, he stared.

Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) interrupted the wait, put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and spoke about his courage.
“Here, we have just a remarkable young man, with the spirit and the determination to carry forth and he’s going to do a lot of things in the life ahead of him,” said Liu, which was followed by an encouragement, once again, for Tsai to speak.

There was silence.

“I do feel really lucky to be here,” Tsai said, finally. “I could be dead, but I’m here and I’m lucky I just lost a leg. Everything else is alright and I have to thank (Stridiron) for that.”

Tsai then handed Stridiron a card sized envelope and leaned in to hug the man who helped save his life.
“I’m just glad to see that he’s out of the hospital and doing much better compared to the last time I saw him,” said Stridiron. “I’m glad he’s doing well.”

So well, Liu said, that Tsai has completed all his needed coursework and will earn his diploma June 26 with his peers at Francis Lewis.