The night of incident (Photo: QueensPost)
Dec. 27, 2012 By Bill Parry and Christian Murray
A man was killed Thursday night after being pushed in front of a No. 7 train at the 40th Street subway station, according to the police.
The man was standing on the platform at about 8pm and was pushed onto the tracks where he was struck by a Queens-bound train. The man has yet to be identified as his mangled body remained on the tracks as of 11:30pm.
“I heard the train screech as it was stopping and then heard this loud scream,” said Linda Santini-Tripodis, the owner of Merit Group & Associates, who was beneath the 40th Street station at the time.
“I’m never going to forget that scream for as long as I live,” Santini-Tripodis said.
The perpetrator is believed to be a female Hispanic in her 20’s, according to the NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne. She was seen pacing and mumbling by witnesses prior to the incident, Brown said. She sat on a bench by herself and waited for the 7 train to enter the station.
“The woman then jumped up and shoved a man into the path of the oncoming subway train,” Browne said, adding that “the victim did not notice her.”
Investigators do not believe the man knew his attacker.
The woman was wearing a grey, blue and white ski jacket with Nike sneakers, grey on the top with red soles, according to the police.
The Deputy Commissioner said described the perpetrator as 5’5” and heavyset with blonde or brown hair. She fled out of the station onto Queens Blvd and the police are trying to track her down.
The police said that there were no cameras on the platform, but that they would be reviewing surveillance cameras from nearby stores.
The deceased was trapped under the front of the train’s second car. “The body is severely damaged so providing a description is impossible,” Browne said.
The police were unaware of any disturbances in stores or restaurants on Queens Blvd. prior to the incident.
The number 7 train service was closed between Court Sq & 61st-Woodside Ave last night as the police investigated the scene.
This incident comes less than a month after another man was killed when he was shoved into the path of a Q train at 49th Street.
