Two teens were charged with murder in connection to the New Year’s Day death of a good Samaritan who jumped onto Bronx subway tracks to save another man, cops said.
Jonathan Aponte, 16, and Braulio Garcia, 17, were arrested Wednesday in connection to the death of 36-year-old Roland Hueston, cops and prosecutors said Friday.
The younger teen was charged with murder, manslaughter, robbery, gang assault and assault, authorities said.
The older teen was hit with the same charges, in addition to attempted murder and attempted manslaughter, cops said.
The deadly incident unfolded around 2:40 a.m. on the B and D train platform of the Fordham Road subway station – where an intoxicated 38-year-old man was “causing a disturbance” and blowing a “New Year’s horn,” cops said.
According to a criminal complaint, Aponte told police he and his pals “politely” asked the victim to stop blowing the horn, and claimed he could see a gun coming out of the man’s fanny pack.
Aponte said two of his pals “grabbed the guy and bear-hugged him” and that the three of them then chased after him down the platform when he freed himself, the filing states.
“They grabbed him again and held him on the ground,” the teen allegedly told cops. “I took the fanny pack off him and threw it on the platform. I never saw a gun again.”
The NYPD said that one of the suspects had approached the victim and displayed a knife before the group of attackers began punching and kicking him.
Aponte told investigators that the victim “tried to grab my foot and I wiggled it away and then I saw him mid-air and I saw him go down to the tracks,” according to the complaint.
The victim tumbled onto the tracks as a train approached — and that’s when Hueston jumped onto the roadbed to try to rescue him.
Hueston was struck and killed by the oncoming train, cops said.
“We’re going through a lot right now,” Hueston’s father told The Post by phone Friday afternoon when asked about his son’s death. The grieving father said he and his wife weren’t prepared to speak and needed time to process what had occurred.
Two people close to Hueston shared Facebook posts in his memory.
“[Hueston] was more than just a friend he was like a brother to me and my siblings, a son to my parents, a god father to my daughter etc. As some may know he’s the young man that passed away because he saved someone else on the train on New Years Day,” Naheem Henry wrote Jan. 5.
“I am lost for words, I am not okay and this is really taking a toll on me. I am trying to find some form of peace in this but it’s extremely hard. I love you my brother and Rest In Peace Your memory will always live on with me.”
Terence Means Jr., a cousin of Hueston’s, lamented that the two had grown apart and he never had a chance to tell him he loved him.
“My cousin… died saving the life of his friend. As teenagers we were inseparable but due to anger and stubbornness I never got the chance to see the man he became,” Means Jr. wrote on Jan. 2.
“I’ll always miss you and I’m sorry we never got the chance to truly reconcile and tell you I love you.”
The man Hueston was trying to save was not struck by the train and was treated and released from a local hospital for a fractured arm, cops said.
The assault victim’s mother, Basilia Paulino, was left heartbroken over the Good Samaritan’s death.
“I’m crying for that man. I don’t know what to say,” Paulino told The Post through tears on Monday. “He went to help my son and look what happened. He should be in God’s glory, that man.”
Police said the attackers made off with the contents of the victim’s fanny pack, including his wallet and a sum of cash.
Police said they are seeking four additional suspects in connection to the incident.
Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy
