Ross was pulling his Franklin Shuttle train out of New York's Brooklyn Botanical Garden station on Tuesday morning when he noticed a kitten with a Sun Chips bag stuck on its head lying in the middle of the tracks.
"I figured it may be a cruel trick by some kids," he told the New York Daily News, "or the cat might be trying to get some food."
Bringing the train to a halt, Ross climbed out of the subway car and approached the cat. Upon realizing it was alive and moving, he pet the frightened animal before eventually removing the bag from its head.
"He looked at me for a minute like, 'Wow, I don't know where I've been,'" Ross said, before the kitten disappeared down the tracks. "He took off like a bandit. He seemed to be fine."
Subway conductor John Ross
Nicholas Fevelo / for New York Daily News
The animal rescue is not the conductor's first act of bravery: in 2009, he chased down a man he had witnessed stabbing another, tackled him and held him until cops arrived at the scene.
