Man pushed onto NYC subway tracks recovering; suspect charged with attempted murder
NEW YORK– A man who was pushed onto the metro tracks He is expected to make a full recovery before an incoming train in New York City on New Year’s Eve, a family member said, while the person accused of pushing him was held without bail Thursday on charges of attempted murder and assault.
Joseph Lynskey, 45, was standing on the platform of the West 18th Street station in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood Tuesday afternoon when another man pushed him onto the tracks as a 1 train approached. Police called it a random attack.
Lynskey’s condition has improved from critical to stable, police said.
Christopher Lynskey told The Daily News that his brother’s injuries included a skull fracture and broken ribs, but he is awake and talking at Bellevue Hospital.
“He’s doing well,” said Christopher Lynskey, who flew from Florida to visit his brother. “He’s a little bit broken, but he’ll make a full recovery.”
According to a police statement, responding officers were told Lynskey had been struck by the train. Authorities did not say how Lynskey escaped with only broken bones.
Although a direct hit with a train is often fatal, some who fall from the New York City platforms manage to survive. Safety experts say that if it is not possible to get back onto a platform or outrun a slowing train, lying in the trough between the tracks may work in some stations, and at some stops there may be a space between the train and the platform can be.
Kamel Hawkins, 23, was taken into custody later that day and made his first court appearance in Manhattan on Wednesday, when a judge approved a request by prosecutors to hold the Brooklyn resident without bail pending his next appearance before the court on Monday.
Hawkins already had pending assault and harassment charges in Brooklyn, where he is accused of throwing bleach at a woman and trying to break into her home after threatening her, prosecutors said.
Hawkins’ attorney in the Metro case, Darryl Hairston, did not immediately return a message Thursday. His attorney in the Brooklyn case, Jeremy Gross, said he had no immediate comment.
Hawkins’ father, Shamel Spencer, told The New York Times he was stunned by the allegations. He said Hawkins had some trouble with the law, but he never thought his son would be accused of something so violent.
“He’s not a bad boy at all,” Spencer said.
The possibility of being pushed onto the tracks is a long-running nightmare for many New Yorkers. Although rare compared to the millions of rides every day, a nudge is common last March killed someone in East Harlem.
In New York, personal safety on the subway is generally similar to safety in the city as a whole. But life-threatening crimes such as stabbings and shovings caused unrest on the trains, which would carry more than 1 billion passengers in 2024.
Police figures show that major crimes in the metro fell in November compared to the same period last year, but murders rose from five to nine.