Man Killed By A Train While Trying To Retrieve Cell Phone

A man who lept onto the subway tracks to retrieve his cellphone was struck and killed yesterday by a southbound A train at the 14th Street station at 8th Avenue. 60-year-old Vit Lukacik of Queens was hit around 3:20 p.m. and police sources told DNAinfo that that he "didn't realize how close the train was." Lukacik was pronounced dead at the scene, and service was restored a little more than an hour later. The Post denotes the 14th Street A,C,E station as being in Greenwich Village, while DNAinfo states that it's in Chelsea.

In 2004 a woman died after she attempted to pick up her cellphone in the path of a V train, and in 2009 a man was struck and killed by a B train after he dropped his MP3 player in the train's path. If you drop something on the tracks, leave it and ask the MTA for assistance.

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By Christopher Robbins in News on July 23, 2011 10:00 AM

Comments [rss]

Kevin_Kramers

wanted to win the Darwin Award eh?

PFOOMA

I had this exact phone (Verizon LG chocolate ) the biggest piece of crap phone ever made. I'm sure he was down there searching for HIS phone through all the other chocolate phones thrown down there.

Adam Moreira

Darwin's law in full effect. Can't say that I feel sorry for him, but his family is another story.

setecq

Darwin's Law... you mean "the theory of evolution"? And if he's 60, he's already had many chances to pass on his genes, hasn't he?

Hard to mock the dead when you can't get basic facts straight.

soothsayer

by the time he went up stairs, tried to get the attention of the token booth clerks who don't want to be bothered with anything (you lose ~5 min right there at the booth trying to get some help, but the useless asshole in the box just want to try and ignore you as long as they can.) and run back downstairs to wait for help (total time ~15 min) his cellphone would have been gone/jacked by the lone black guy who was secretly watching you all this time from across the platform waiting for you to make a move.

LazyNanny

I think he knew exactly how close the train was.

Emmily_Litella

The trains run at full speed from 34th to 14th. The problem with these cases is that people think they can hoist themselves back up to the platform, but once down realize it is very difficult. I guess his life wasnt worth living without the damn phone until help could be summoned.

silver

The platform edge is at your ribs.You need a bit of upper body strength to jump and get your knee on the platform and the rest of yourself. A 60 year old probably can't do it.

whatidsay

"Can you hear me....ahhhhhh!" A cellphone can be replaced. Your life, not so much.

Roger_the_Shrubber

Curse you Charles Darwin!

robingee

You can never tell how fast a train is coming. They appear to go slower then they are.

RoBolt Dunquin III

sometimes i wonder if these are just masked suicides... maybe people drop their train on the track on purpose with the intent of dying to lessen the grief for their loved ones.. (not lessen the grief, but you know what i mean).

*rob*

seebirds

you sound like you know a little bit too much about the suicide-as-an-accident mentality. should I call 911 on you?

theevilerone

A 60 year old didn't know better? Damn.

pillow_case

The MTA will actually send someone down to get it for you.

If the item isn't on the actual metal tracks, guess what? It won't get damaged! It kills me when people can't understand simple mechanics.