A 50-year-old Queens man has been arrested in the subway death of a 48-year-old from the same borough who fell to the tracks and was hit by an oncoming train as they fought about a phone, police sources and officials said Tuesday.
Carlos Garcia faces a single charge of manslaughter in the case of Heriberto Quintana, who died after the two started arguing on the Roosevelt Avenue-Jackson Heights platform during Monday's evening commute, cops said.
According to police sources, the two men bumped into each other on the platform just before 6 p.m. and Garcia's phone ended up falling to the tracks. He allegedly ordered Quintana to get it and Quintana refused.
The two started fighting and Quintana ended up on the tracks as the train pulled into the station, police said. He was taken to a hospital, where the father of three was pronounced dead.
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The family of Quintana said he worked construction in Manhattan, and was rushing to the family’s home in Jamaica so that he could take his wife to her weekly dialysis appointments in Long Island.
Now, Quintana's son Demsi and the rest of the family are demanding "my dad gets justice for what that guy did. And that he gets put away."
Quintana's death marks the ninth in the subway system in 2022 and the fifth in the past two weeks.
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On Friday, a teen was shot and killed on a moving train in Far Rockaway. Three people have died since Sept. 30 in stabbings, two in subway attacks and a third on a city bus.
Just over the weekend, a man was shoved onto the tracks of a Bronx subway station in what police have called an unprovoked attack. Video released the next day showed the moment the unidentified attacker come up to the man and push him down to the roadbed shortly before the arrival of a 6 train. That man survived thanks to good Samaritans.
On Tuesday, the MTA sought to reassure riders with a new safety measure, as they're asking NYPD officers to position themselves in the middle of a platform. That way, when conductors see them, they will announce to riders that officers are nearby.
"The cell phone that fell into a pit. My God — please de-escalate situations. We can get your phones, your personal affects, we do it all the time," said NYC Transit President Richard Davey.
