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Man Hit By Subway Is Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter

110110monsterball.jpg Yesterday, we reported that a 57-year-old man had some of the skin on his face torn off after leaning into the tracks (the Post says it was to "peer down the tunnel,") and then somehow not having enough time to lean back in before the train came. We won't speculate as to how this was even possible—it would take probably a fraction of a second to pull your head back in, and if the train were already in the station he would not be leaning to check if it were coming—but it turns out the victim is Will Rokos, the Adacemy Award nominated writer of 2001's Monster's Ball.

Rokos was in critical condition at Bellevue Hospital yesterday. The impact from the subway sent him flying into the platform; the motorman reportedly slammed on his brakes, but couldn't stop before five cars had pulled into the station. He was semi-conscious by the time police arrived. Rokos is best known for writing and having a minor role in Monster's Ball, but has also acted in Galactic Gigolo, Trespassing and Shadowboxer.

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Comments [rss]

  • 40oz.killa

    He's lucky to be alive

  • misfit71

    obviously looking the other way.

  • sj

    I'd say it's pretty easy. My observation is that roughly half the people who lean over the tracks to look for the train look the wrong way down the tracks.

  • Spirit of 76

    Maybe, but how can you not hear the train right coming up behind you? Besides, this story says he was hit in the face, not in the back of the head.

  • jamieob256

    Did he have headphones on?

  • Splicer

    How can it happen? I don't know about 14th St. but go to Times Square sometime and walk down the stairs that bring you to the rear of the downtown 1 platform. I've seen people come down the stairs and peer around the corner, basically sticking their head in the mouth of the tunnel. If they did this at the moment a train was coming...well, you can guess the results.

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