A person was hit and killed by an uptown 2 or 3 train at the 72nd street station on Thursday around 1 p.m.
Trains were diverted around the station as police investigated. Police told us there is “no criminality suspected,” but they are still investigating.
The Daily News reported that the deceased was a man and had been seen walking and then lying on the tracks beforehand.
One woman on the train said the operator screamed “get out of the way!” (Note: despite the hashtag #suicide in the tweet below, she says she didn’t see the crash so can’t be sure it was a suicide.)
#suicide #subway #jumper at 72nd street. #conductor screamed "get out of the way". So sad (I was on train)
— Amy Klein (@AmydKlein) December 18, 2014
Someone just lost their life on 72nd Street 2 and 3 Train #NYC pic.twitter.com/TjqythimIk
— TheLastDrummers (@thelastdrummers) December 18, 2014
Sadly, subway deaths are a somewhat regular occurrence at this station.
Thanks to Priscilla for the photos.
You say crashes are a common occurrence here- this doesn’t need to be the case. I believe the subway deaths stem from the extreme narrowness of the 72 st station. When there were fewer of us it was more than adequate- now – without building a fence on its edge, its narrowness may be a killer…
I agree in general with dcortex – a set of scary platforms, without much hope for improvements. However, in this case:
“a man (…) had been seen walking and then lying on the tracks beforehand.”
There were no reports that the in usual fell off the platform. Is it possible that he fell through the grate above the tracks?
It will be good to get more details from the NYPD about exactly what happened. If the person run over by the train stumbled onto the tracks because of overcrowding on the narrow at form it would be helpful to know that. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that the victim had been tossed onto the tracks like a rag doll. It is very scary to think that a rusty grate outside the station house on the south side of 72nd Street gave way and the deceased plopped down onto the tracks and was immediately run over. Scary stuff!
There should be gates on all subway platforms to prevent people from falling, being thrown or jumping onto the tracks. Such gates are found in the subway systems of many cities throughout the world. Isn’t it shameful that we are not one of them?
Yes, the cost would undoubtedly be astronomical. But such a basic public safety measure must take precedence over much else that the city (and state, and nation) currently spend great amounts on. This is true even if one maintains that all of the other expenditures are worthy and important in their own right (which I do not but that is not the point here); as long as funds are limited, spending must be prioritized.