Man exiting Brooklyn subway train dragged to death, witnesses say his bag got caught in door
Published in News & Features
NEW YORK — A man walking with a cane as he exited a Brooklyn subway was dragged to his death after witnesses said his plastic shopping bag got caught in the train door, police said Tuesday.
Yaw Adu Boahene, 66, was getting off a rush-hour A train at the Utica Ave. station in Bedford-Stuyvesant when his blue plastic bag seemed to get caught between the closing doors, cops said.
As the train pulled out of the station about 6 p.m. Monday, Boahene was dragged down the platform, then fell between the train and the platform, police said. He died at the scene.
Sources familiar with the investigation told The News that while witnesses reported Boahene’s bag got stuck in the train door it’s still not clear exactly what happened — and police are looking into whether his foot could have gotten caught in the gap between the platform and the train.
Boahene lived in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, according to cops.
Modern subway trains are designed to stay put if any of the side doors are obstructed or refuse to close.
The specifics of Monday’s fatal dragging were still being investigated Tuesday, but a transit source with knowledge of subway operations told the Daily News that particularly thin or flexible objects — like a bag — might not be substantial enough to trigger the train to stop moving.
Surveillance video from the train shows Boahene standing aboard the subway as it enters the station, police sources told The News. He holds a cane in his right hand and a thin plastic shopping bag in his left.
As the train comes to a stop, Boahene can be seen moving slowly toward the door, using the cane. He was unsteady on his feet and his shoes appeared to be too big, the sources said.
No passengers aboard the train seemed to react as the train then pulled away from the station. The crew aboard the train also appeared not to be aware they were dragging Boahene.
“It was a normal stop,” the train’s conductor told the MTA’s rail control center — according to a preliminary internal report reviewed by the Daily News. “Didn’t see anything unusual, don’t recall anything unusual.”
The train operator similarly told police that the subway was functioning normally and rolling freely as it puled out of the Utica Ave. station.
Surveillance cameras along the Utica Ave. platform did not have a clear view of Boahene as he got off the train, police sources said.
Police were first alerted to the fatal dragging via a 911 call from the station.
The Manhattan-bound A train made it three more stops, to the Jay St. – Metrotech station, before rail control stopped it.
All passengers were discharged before the train was turned around at Chambers St.
The train was sent to Pitkin Yard for an inspection, while the train crew was returned to Utica Ave. to be interviewed by police. No mechanical problems were found with the doors, police sources said.
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(New York Daily News staff reporter Rebecca White contributed to this story.)
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