Woman Stumbles, Falls on Subway Tracks to Her Death on New Year's Day
A young woman stumbled, fell onto subway tracks, and was killed by an oncoming train, New York City police confirmed. The young woman was killed at a subway platform not far from Times Square, making it the third subway-related death in a little over one month.
Police have not released the victim's name but said she was in her 20s, according to the Associated Press. Witnesses said the young woman was stumbling around on New Year's Day when she fell onto the tracks of the No. 2 train line at 34th Street and Seventh Avenue, only one stop from Times Square.
Her death is the third in a little over one month. In December, two men were pushed to their deaths by fellow straphangers in the station. The first death was particularly gruesome, due to the New York Post's coverage of the ordeal. The paper ran an image of the man trying to save himself on the cover, with the words, "Doomed."
"The man tried to climb out of the well and was pinned between the station and the train," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at a news conference.
Ki-Suk Han, 58 died after being pushed by a fellow passenger onto the subway tracks and struck by the Q train, and his death created a great deal of controversy as to whether anyone should have, or could have, helped him off of the tracks.
"I think it's not unlike a car accident where people pay attention to it after it happens," Kelly noted. "The witnesses we spoke to were not focused on what happened before the confrontation."
Just last week, another man was pushed to his death by a woman who claimed she hated Muslims. Sunando Sen was pushed in front of an oncoming 7 train by Erika Menendez, a woman who has a lengthy criminal record of assault.
"I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims," Menendez reportedly told police. "Ever since 2001 when they put down the Twin Towers, I've been beating them up," CBS reported her saying.
She now faces charges of murder that have been classified as a hate crime.