A man was pushed onto the subway tracks in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, narrowly escaping death, with the chilling incident caught on video. The attack occurred just after 1:30 p.m. yesterday, as a 45-year-old victim stood on the platform at 18th Street and was subsequently pushed into the path of an oncoming 1 train by a suspect, identified as Kamel Hawkins, 23, of Brooklyn, as Eyewitness News reported.
First responders who arrived at the scene were able to rescue the victim from the tracks and transport him to Bellevue Hospital where he is said to be in stable condition. Hawkins was apprehended less than an hour after the attack at 59th Street, thanks to the swift actions of transit officers to quickly identify the person from the video. He has been charged with attempted murder and assault, and is expected to be back in court on Monday, January 6, as detailed by Eyewitness News.
Meanwhile, the New York subway has been the scene of multiple violent crimes this holiday season, adding to worries of those using the nation's busiest transit system. "Crime is not surging in the subway system," Mayor Eric Adams insisted in a press conference before the shove at the 18th Street station, emphasizing that these high-profile incidents, though disturbing, do not represent the overall state of subway safety. Police figures show that major crimes on subways were down through November compared with the same period last year, although the number of killings rose from five to nine, as noted by WHDH News.
Despite recent events, Mayor Adams highlighted his administration's efforts to improve subway security, including dealing with persons who appear to need mental health services. He acknowledged that public perception doesn't always align with the statistical reality of crime declines, with high-profile crimes creating a heightened sense of danger. "People don't want to hear that. They say, 'someone just got burned, Eric.' If someone is shoved to the subway system on the tracks, people are seeing and feeling what they're reading. So our success is overshadowed," Adams told Eyewitness News.
As New York City prepared to celebrate New Year's Eve, frustration among riders was palpable. Subway users expressed their concerns over personal safety. One rider, Anthony Rodriguez, expressed the sentiment to Eyewitness News, stating, "TThey want to hike fares up and they want to do certain things, but they can't even keep the people of New York City protected. You know what I'm saying? It's kind of sad." Despite this, many New Yorkers, like Ethan Barsh, maintain that they "actually still feel relatively safe," acknowledging the infrequency of such incidents given the vast scale of the subway system.
