A crazed straphanger pushed another man into the path of an oncoming train at a Brooklyn subway station Friday afternoon, according to officials and a witness.
The victim was walking down the stairs to the Brooklyn-bound A train platform at the Jay Street/MetroTech station around 12:15 p.m. when he and a younger man — who appeared to be a stranger — began arguing, according to Venus Moore, 48, an MTA worker and cleaner at the station.
“[The attacker] kicked him onto the platform,” Moore said. “He was out cold, lying on the tracks. It was pretty scary, actually. They stopped the train and the motorman got out.”
MTA worker Jalisa Sanders, 29, said she rushed to bring the train to a halt.
“I ran down to stop the train with my flashlight,” said Sanders, who’s been on the job for nearly a year. “You wave it back and forth [to] stop. I guess I did want to be a hero, but that’s not what I was thinking. I was just doing my job. It’s the training, it just kicked in, and stopping the train is the most important thing. You really don’t want anyone dying on the tracks.”
Two bystanders jumped onto the tracks to help the victim up, and he regained consciousness, Moore said. He was taken to a local hospital but his condition was unclear, according to an MTA spokesperson.
“There was a big gash on his head, all bloody,” Moore said. “When you see someone on the tracks … this was my first time. I was scared. I was trying to talk to him, to keep him calm.”
Meanwhile, other good Samaritans ran after the culprit, who darted across the station.
“They tried to chase [the attacker], but he got away,” Moore said. “Ran up and across the station and got away.”