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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Jordan King

Man killed after being pushed onto New York subway train tracks

A man died after someone pushed him onto train tracks in a seemingly unprovoked attack in New York.

He was killed on Monday evening while standing on a platform at the 125th Street station in East Harlem.

Someone shoved him at 6.48pm as a No.4 train came through the station, too late for the driver to stop.

A suspect was arrested and is still in custody.

Police have not identified him but a senior law enforcement official quoted by the New York Times said he was a 24-year-old who has a history of mental illness.

He has reportedly been arrested in Brooklyn several times since the age of 16.

The station was not able to run transport services until 9pm.

This is just the latest incident in a wave of crime and violence which has hit the city’s subway system.

Members of the Armed Forces checking commuters' bags at a New York station (AP)

Last month New York Governor Kathy Hochul deployed hundreds of soldiers from the state’s National Guard and the New York City Police Department to help tackle the issue.

They are part of a programme which sees them checking commuters’ bags in the busiest stations.

The idea is to help reassure New Yorkers that there is a police presence, but this has been criticised for having the opposite effect.

Riders Alliance, a New York commuter advocacy group, said: "While well-intentioned, deploying troops to the subway is more likely to increase the perception of crime among people who don't ride public transit than to protect the millions of people on platforms and trains,"

Just two weeks ago, a man was left in critical condition after he was shot in the head in an altercation on the subway.

Two men had been arguing in a verbal altercation before it turned into a physical fight and one of them pulled out a blade and then eventually a gun.

National Guard soldiers at the entrance of a New York subway station (REUTERS)

Footage of the violence was posted on social media showing terrified passengers running to the opposite side of the train.

It is still being determined whether the shooting was self-defence.

In February, a man died and five others were injured in a rush-hour shooting on the subway.

An argument between two groups of teenagers after the train doors opened at the Mount Eden Avenue station in the Bronx turned deadly.

There were 38 robberies and 70 thefts, including pick-pocketing, on the subway system in February, compared to 40 robberies and 98 thefts in the same month last year, according to police data.

Similarly, there were 35 assaults, the same number as for February 2023. About 90 million trips were taken on the subway over the month.

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