Teen Dies While Racing Friend Across Subway Tracks
An 18-year-old celebrating his birthday was struck and killed by a subway after being dared to race across the tracks with a friend. The friend successfully made it across the tracks, but the birthday boy was struck in the middle of the tracks and instantly killed.
Witnesses said they saw Liam Armstrong, 18, and his friend, who has not been identified by the media, take off across the tracks. The first person made it across the tracks to safety, but Armstrong was not so fortunate and hit by an express train as it barreled through the station.
Police found a one-liter bottle of Bacardi rum in his backpack and two fake IDs in his wallet. Armstrong suffered a severed leg and died of severe head trauma. Friends took to Twitter and Facebook to express their shock and grief for the Smithtown High School East student.
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"Your [sic] my brother, I'm sorry I didn't protect you," Dakota Walsh, one of the young men with Armstrong, tweeted.
"I can't believe this happened. He has three little siblings and he loves them – he's a great big brother," Kerin Grisanti told The New York Post.
Passengers were detained on the train as police rushed to assess the situation. They were eventually allowed to exit the train and saw a gruesome scene as they did so.
"As we were leaving the train, I actually saw a foot between two cars," Jake Moore told The Post.
"There's a person under the train and I saw his hand and his arm by the wheels of the train," a witness who wanted to remain anonymous told CBS New York.
"You have some kids that don't know how to come upstairs and go to the other side of the station. That's all I can say about this unfortunate incident," a police officer at the scene told DNAInfo.
Subway deaths have been an increasing problem for the city, and the head of the MTA is looking for a situation to the problem and ways to prevent future deaths.
