(UPDATE) Man found dead in L train tunnel
A man was found dead on the L train tracks at the First Avenue station early during Tuesday morning’s rush hour commute.
Police were investigating whether he was hit by a train.
The incident comes on the heels of the death of Queens man Ki-Suk Han last Monday, who was allegedly pushed into the tracks and then hit by a Q train at 49th Street after a platform altercation.
According to the MTA, the number of people hit by trains increased 15 percent in 2011. In 2010, 128 people had been struck by subway trains, and 147 were hit in 2011, according to the MTA. As of April of this year, the most recent data the MTA could provide, 49 people had been struck by trains.
In yesterday’s incident, the NYPD reported a 911 call they received at 7:10 a.m. detailing a man struck by a train. MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said it was unclear whether the man had been struck by the train.
The victim was a white male who was declared dead on arrival, the NYPD reported.
At that rush hour time, the L train runs every four to six minutes, Ortiz said.
The NYPD is conducting an investigation, but at this time they do not suspect criminal activity was involved. The man did not have any identification on him, which a law enforcement source said usually may indicate a suicide.
After Han was crushed by a train last week, Naeem Davis, 30, was arraigned two days later and charged with second degree murder.
What to do if you fall in
The MTA does not provide safety advice, because station layouts and trackbed construction varies. “I don’t think there’s any sound advice that could be given,” Straphangers Campaign spokesman Gene Russianoff agreed. In 2007, a 50-year-old construction worker and Navy veteran saved a fallen man’s life by jumping in and lying on top of him between the rails.
A second incident
A second incident occurred just a few days later on Thursday night, when two men were safely pulled out of the tracks in the uptown 5 train station at Bowling Green. One had jumped in to rescue the other, the MTA said. Ortiz said that the oncoming train was approaching at a slow speed and stopped in time.
Debate about barriers
Russianoff said one idea has been to install some sort of barrier, similar to what exists in Paris and London, between the train and the platform, “possibly at the most crowded” stations.
