A man has died after being dragged onto train tracks when his bag got stuck in a closing train door in New York. The incident happened during Monday evening rush hour, police said.
Bag caught in doors
Yaw Boahene, 57, was exiting the train at a Brooklyn subway station around 6 p.m. when his bag, which police described as a shopping bag, snagged in the closing train doors. The Brooklyn resident was pulled onto the tracks and run over by the train as it left the station, police said in a statement.
Pronounced dead at the scene
Officers arrived to find Boahene “unconscious and unresponsive” on the train tracks, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The medical examiner’s office will determine the cause of death. The police investigation is ongoing.
Train inspected
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the subway system, said both the train operator and conductor have been removed from service, as is routine while the investigation continues. The agency said the train was one of the fleet's newest models. It was inspected after the man's death and also previously in July, and no mechanical issues were found.
Dragging deaths happen from time to time on the nation’s largest subway system. In 2022, a 20-year-old commuter was killed after his backpack or a piece of his clothing got stuck in the door as he was trying to get onto a train at the Columbus Circle station in upper Manhattan.
