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GRINCH IN GIFT PINCH

Note to good Samaritans: In New York, when looking out for one’s fellow man, it is wise to also look out for one’s luggage.

Matt Dahlman, 27, came to the rescue of an elderly man who fell backward down a Penn Station escalator, hitting his head on the edge of a step.

Dahlman, a Murray Hill resident who was on his way home Christmas night after celebrating with his family in New Jersey, held the bleeding man and put pressure on the wound until the police arrived.

While he was sticking his neck out for a stranger, some Grinch stole his bags – which held the Christmas gifts he had opened only hours earlier.

“At first, I thought, ‘You can’t be serious,’ ” Dahlman told The Post. “Then I realized, what can you do? It’s New York.”

It was around 10:30 p.m., and Dahlman had just taken NJ Transit back from his family’s home in Short Hills.

“The older gentleman was in front of me – he fell backwards down the escalator, but fortunately slowed his fall a bit by getting his hand up for a second on the rail,” he said.

Dahlman said the little first-aid knowledge he picked up while working on the ski patrol in Massachusetts during college came in handy.

“I’m no EMT, but I could see he was bleeding out of the back of the head, so I held my hand over it so he didn’t bleed out too much,” he said.

It was not until the police arrived about two minutes later that Dahlman looked up and realized his bags were gone.

“There was nothing really important in there, but there were some work clothes I was given as gifts,” he said.

After retracing all his steps and checking various lost-and-found locations, a police officer suggested Dahlman file a report.

“By then, I didn’t see the point,” he said.

Despite how things turned out, Dahlman said he would do it all over again.

The man may have been treated at the station for his injuries, said Dahlman, who never got his name.

“Luckily, I still had my wallet and my cellphone,” he said.

“And luckily, the guy looked like he was going to be fine. It could have been much worse.”

jeremy.olshan@nypost.com