Woman Fatally Struck By 6 Train

via polishsausagequeen's flickr

Just before 4 p.m., word came in over the newswire that there was "a person under the train" at East 77th Street and Lexington; soon after it was noted the person was DOA.

Now CityRoom reports that a girl was crushed to death between the 6 train and the platform. It's unclear at this time if her death was accidental—there are conflicting eyewitness reports. Some witnesses say she was playing with kids on the uptown platform when someone pushed her towards the tracks, while others say she jumped. The site has some gruesome details as well, noting "part of the girl’s head and arm were visible between the platform and a door of a car toward the front of the train. Passengers inside the car were screaming."

Currently the MTA's site notes that there's a police investigation at the station and trains are running express in both directions from the 42nd Street-Grand Central Station to the 125th Street Station. Expect delays.

UPDATE: Authorities now say the deceased was a woman in her 40s.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in News on March 11, 2010 4:49 PM

Comments [rss]

dbc

NBC is reporting that the woman dropped her bag onto the tracks and jumped down to retrieve it.

kazubes

Shame, probably a Wagner or Birth Wathen Lenox student given the area

MEDICNYC

Yeah, only BIRCH (not birth) Wathen Lenox students ride the subway at 4pm on a weekday on the Lexington Avenue line next to a huge hospital. I would also call you out on the fact that it was a middle-aged woman but I believe that wasn't made public until a few hours after your comment.

kazubes

Typo, plus the entry said girl at the time of my post. I'm not really sure what you're attacking, calm down there cowboy

jaycjay

City Room is now reporting that the victim was not a "girl," but a woman in her 40s.

JacqueMehoff

WPIX says it was a woman, 48 yrs old. may have dropped her purse. that's it for now.

TeddyNYC

Maybe the MTA should consider platform screen doors at some crowded stations. The stations on the Lex line would definitely qualify.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_screen_doors

Thespis

I guess it depends on how many people actually fall in. I rarely hear of anyone -- but EMTNYC was suggesting, what, like 25?

Whatever it is, I'd want to compare it to the number of people getting hit by cars each year. Walking across a street has to be at least as dangerous as standing on a platform -- and certainly we wouldn't propose cross-walk doors.

Some things in life are just very slightly dangerous. Sometimes it's not worth doing anything about.

ocm123

That's 100 people a year hit by NYC subways.

Thespis

Wow -- you're right, I am surprised by that. Damn.

ocm123

You might be surprised to know that approximately 100 people a year get hit by trains. By the way, another person got hit today on Eastern Parkway and Utica. Most of these "person under" jobs do not get reported.

Gregoire

Sure, if only we could find the $12 billion dollars in the city budget to install them.

Eugene

If you reduced the wages of MTA workers to what they should be and only had as many of them as are actually necessary, you'd have enough for platform screen doors made of gold.

Trilby16

Screen doors made of gold. Ha ha. They'd be stolen the first night.

jaycjay

"if only we could find the $12 billion dollars in the city budget"

MTA budget. It's not a city agency.

MEDICNYC

To TeddyNYC: that shit is expensive and no one wants the subway fare going up to $3 so they can have "platform screen doors."

To Jayclay: You are mostly correct but the MTA does receive money from the city to subside student MetroCards and they get financial aid from the state and city for certain projects as well.

TeddyNYC

To EMTNYC: We'll be paying $3 in a few years anyway.

nivek

Because we are a cheapass nation. Only in America are people unwilling to get better transportation for just minutely more. The rest of the world has moved ahead in that respect.

Kreo

Maybe if half of MTA people worked at least 8 hours a day like the rest of us, and the other half was sent packing, then the saved billions could be used for a simple solution to station noise and safety like in other countries

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVCQ2g6I2ks