December 4, 2012, 7:19 a.m.
It’s a subway rider’s worst nightmare: being pushed onto the tracks. On Monday, it happened in midtown Manhattan where, according to witnesses, one man shoved another in front of an oncoming train, which crushed the victim to death before horrified onlookers.
Police on Tuesday were still searching for the alleged pusher, who was captured on surveillance video seconds before the attack in a verbal altercation with the victim, who was identified as 58-year-old Ki-Suck Han of Queens, N.Y. The attack occurred about 12:30 p.m.
Witnesses, who included scores of people standing on the platform at the station on West 49th Street and 7th Avenue, said Han tried to scramble back onto the platform after landing on the tracks a few feet below, but he was crushed between the side of the platform and the Q train, which slammed on its brakes but could not stop in time.
One witness facing the oncoming train repeatedly snapped his camera in hopes the flash would warn the conductor early enough to stop. Others on the platform waved their hands and yelled at the conductor as Han stood up from where he had landed, faced the train then began trying to climb off the tracks as the train sped toward him.
“There was a huge gasp from all the spectators,” the man who took pictures of the incident, R. Umar Abbasi, said of the moment when he saw Han pushed, the New York Post reported. “I just started running, running, hoping that the driver could see my flash,” said Abbasi.
