NTSB to investigate NYC subway dragging death in which passenger's bag may have gotten snagged

Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News on Sep 30, 2026

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NEW YORK — Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were due to arrive in Brooklyn on Wednesday to probe the apparent dragging death of a subway passenger earlier this week. Three investigators were dispatched by the federal agency, NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway told the Daily News.

As previously reported by the Daily News, 57-year-old Yaw Adu Boahene died Monday after he was apparently dragged along the platform at the Utica Ave. subway station in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

He had just gotten off of a Manhattan-bound A train when witnesses said he was dragged — possibly by a plastic shopping bag that had gotten caught in the train door.

Boahene ultimately fell between the train and the platform, and was declared dead at the scene.

While the NTSB has investigated multiple subway incidents in recent years — and is currently investigating the death of NYC Transit construction flagger Moet McCullum, who was killed on the job in early September — multiple transit sources said it was unusual for the feds to investigate an incident like Monday’s dragging death.

The NTSB did not send investigators in 2024 when a man died after his arm got caught in the doors of an out-of-service Q train at the Prospect Park station, nor did the feds investigate a fatal 2022 dragging at the Q train’s Avenue M stop.

Asked why the feds had dispatched a team to Bed-Stuy, Holloway said “the agency has investigated similar dragging injuries and fatalities in the past” — and pointed to a 2021 investigation of a death in San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit system, in which a passenger was dragged to his death by his dog’s leash.

“Through this investigation, the NTSB is seeking to understand what happened, how it happened, and whether there are lessons or safety improvements that could help prevent similar accidents in the future,” Holloway said in a statement.

“They have the jurisdiction to cover any incident that they wish,” MTA chairman Janno Lieber said Wednesday when asked about the feds’ arrival. “We’ll always work with them.”

The investigation comes amid ongoing tensions between the U.S. Department of Transportation, which has repeatedly threatened to cut federal funding for the transit agency over perceived issues of worker safety, passenger safety, and New York state’s congestion tolling program.

The NTSB, which operates independently from the USDOT, is largely regarded as nonpartisan.

NYC Transit president Demetrius Crichlow said Wednesday that much still remained unclear about Boahene’s death.

Boahene was seen on the train car’s security cameras with a cane and a blue plastic bag, moving unsteadily toward the door after the train stopped at Utica Ave.

“We have cameras, so we have the ability to see him getting on and off the train,” Crichlow said. “We don’t have a direct view of that portion of the station from the outside of the cars, so it’s unclear at this point how he came into contact with the train — did he stumble, did the bag get caught, did the cane get caught, did he step in-between the gap? That, we’re unsure of.”

The train — made up of R211 cars, the newest in the subway fleet — had passed an inspection in July, Crichlow said. An inspection of the train immediately after Boahene was killed revealed no issues with the train doors or the so-called “indication” system meant to prevent trains with obstructed doors from moving.

“The conductor has the responsibility of observing the platform — they observe the platform before they close the doors, and they observe the platform as they’re departing the station,” Crichlow said. “Whether or not that was done is currently under investigation.”

As previously reported, the train crew was unaware Boahene was being dragged, and the train continued on three stops toward Manhattan before MTA rail control took it out of service.

An initial incident report reviewed by the Daily News says the conductor told rail control “it was a normal stop. Didn’t see anything unusual, don’t recall anything unusual.”

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