The NYPD has released surveillance video of the emotionally disturbed man suspected of shoving a Queens dad in front of a subway train yesterday afternoon. The video, below, shows the unidentified suspect arguing with Ki-Suck Han moments before allegedly throwing Han down onto the subway tracks at West 49th Street and 7th Avenue. Far more disturbing is today's cover of the NY Post, which features a photo of Han on the tracks as the train bears down on him, with the lurid headline "... THIS MAN IS ABOUT TO DIE."
Video of altercation between alleged subway shover and victim from Gothamist on Vimeo.
Some are questioning why the photographer took photos instead of trying to help Han up. (This is part of a never-ending debate about photojournalism.) The photographer, freelancer R. Umar Abbasi, tells the tabloid, "I just started running, running, hoping that the driver could see my flash. The most painful part was I could see him getting closer to the edge. He was getting so close. And people were running toward him and the train... I didn’t think about [the perp] until after. In that moment, I just wanted to warn the train — to try and save a life."
A doctor was also on the platform when the incident happened, and she says she tried in vain to resuscitate Han, who according to one witness was dragged 10-15 feet by the train. “There was blood coming out his mouth," Dr. Laura Kaplan tells the Post. "We couldn’t do CPR. He wasn’t in the right position. and there was just no way to get him out of there.” Han, 58, was pronounced DOA at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital. Dr. Kaplan adds, "People were shouting and yelling when it happened, but then people ran the other way."
According to the police, the suspect is a black male with short dreadlocks, last seen wearing a dark jacket, a gray T-shirt and a cap. One police source says the man was screaming on the platform and panhandling, and Han approached him in an attempt to calm him down. But the police source also tells the Post that one witness is claiming Han was the "aggressor" and police found a bottle of vodka on his person.
Han's devastated wife says her husband had stormed out of their Elmhurst home at 11 a.m. after a verbal altercation. She called him repeatedly, but he never answered.
