She was already a New York Post Liberty Medal nominee, and this week, Margaret Tarulli again proved why.
The off-duty Human Resources Administration police officer rushed to help a man who had passed out Tuesday at a Brooklyn subway station – the same one in which she helped save a teen’s life seven months ago.
“I’m starting to believe that I’m always in the right place at the right time,” said Tarulli, who was at the Sheepshead Bay station with a Post photographer, taking pictures for a story about her nomination for a Community Liberty Medal stemming from her heroics last winter.
It was Jan. 3, and Tarulli was on her way to work when a 14-year-old girl blacked out and fell onto the tracks.
Two brave men jumped down and lifted the student onto the platform, where Tarulli performed CPR and revived her.
Tuesday, as she stood on the same platform and idly glanced down the stairs, she suddenly spun into action.
“A man was laying there, flat on his back,” she said.
“He needed air. I opened his shirt and took his pulse. He was very clammy, and his pulse was low. His wife, who was with him, said he’d passed out.”
The man, who later identified himself as Daniel Basov, opened his eyes.
“He kept thanking me, a hundred times over,” said Tarulli, who has had no formal medical training except for CPR.
Last January, when she began trying to help the 14-year-old, she didn’t get a pulse.
“I looked up at the NYPD cops and shook my head no,” she recalled. “I looked back down at her, a frail little girl, and I said, ‘How am I going to let this girl die? There’s no possible way.’ ”
She continued CPR – and several minutes later, the girl came to.