For the second time in as many days, an unsuspecting subway rider ended up on the tracks, but Monday’s incident came amid a fight. NBC New York’s Anjali Hemphill reports.
A man died after he fell onto subway tracks at a Queens station during a fight involving a phone, according to police sources.
In another shocking and deadly incident within the New York City transit system, police said two men bumped into one another on the platform at the Roosevelt Avenue-Jackson Heights just before 6 p.m. Monday, at the height of the evening rush hour.
A cellphone belonging to the suspect fell onto the tracks as a result, and he demanded the other man to go get it, police sources said. When the other man refused, the pair got into a fight. He ended up on the tracks as a train came in.
The man, identified as 48-year-old Heriberto Quintana, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital where he died, police said.
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The suspect, a 50-year-old man, is in custody, according to police. Police are now reviewing surveillance video to see if the suspect pushed the victim off the platform, or if he fell on his own. It was unclear if he would face charges.
The incident triggered massive delays on the E/F/M/R lines in and out of Queens, with Long Island Rail Road cross-honoring MetroCard holders in both directions in an effort to ease congestion.
It was the ninth death in the subway system in 2021, and the fifth in the transit system in the past two weeks. 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.
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Just over the weekend, on Oct. 15, 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 shows 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 a group of people who helped him get back up off the tracks and onto the platform. The man who pushed him was not caught.
