Subway worker turned MTA whistleblower, Juan de los Santos, claims he was pushed onto the tracks after he exposed some coworkers for slacking off. The Daily News reports that de los Santos suffered a broken nose, broken teeth and a gash on his face (now sewn up by eight stitches) after being shoved onto live tracks at the Wilson Avenue station early last Wedesday.
He was there working an overnight shift on the L line and recalls, "I was about to bend down and pick up a piece of metal. Suddenly, I felt a push and I landed on the track." However, upon his first questioning he told officers that he may have just fallen on his own.
MTA Inspector General Barry says "the timing and circumstances regarding this incident are certainly suspicious." de los Santos had just spoken with Barry's office during an investigation of NYC Transit's scheduling and management of workers. The report found that hundreds of track workers slack off for hours a day, and de los Santos says that word spread of his cooperation with the probe. Now his job has put him in danger it seems, with coworkers allegedly saying: "This is the guy. This is the rat."
