Published Friday, 12 October 2012
The former The Smiths frontman turned hero last month when it emerged he had tended to an elderly lady at the Strand Bookstore in Manhattan when she was taken ill while shopping.
Now he has opened up about the incident, revealing he felt helpless when the woman collapsed but did all he could to comfort her.
The rocker told Big Apple newspaper The Village Voice, "I'm no physician, but she seemed to be suffering a mild stroke. She fell backwards, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head.
"I didn't know what to do other than to rub her arm gently and speak softly to her. I knew she could hear me, but she seemed to be traveling inwards... in that mid-state.
"It's such a sin to fall ill in America and everyone's petrified of medical bills, so I left it to the Strand to consider calling an ambulance. They didn't, and I think it's that fear of getting embroiled in something that could cost you money.
"I was by myself, and I later recalled how several customers actively zoomed away from the woman when she fell. Aren't people weird?" he added.