BEDFORD STUYVESANT, Brooklyn (WABC) — A 57-year-old man was killed after becoming trapped in the doors of an A train and being dragged at a crowded Brooklyn subway station Monday evening.
Authorities identified the victim as Yaw Boahene. Police said he was getting off a train at the Utica Avenue station in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn when his bag became caught in the doors shortly before 6 p.m.
Investigators said Boahene was dragged the length of seven train cars before hitting the wall at the end of the station leading into the tunnel, before ultimately tumbling onto the tracks. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Gabriel Broadus was heading home from school described the incident as horrific and said it left her traumatized.
She told Eyewitness News that people on the platform panicked after witnessing the incident and that she called police for help.
“Conductors are supposed to look out and make sure that people aren’t in this situation. That’s the whole thing, they do a little thumbs up, that’s what supposed to happen. And that didn’t happen,” Broadus said. “There was no one to turn to. And we know the police, they can come as quickly as they can, but the train was already at Nostrand Avenue at that point, like what, like what help is that going to be?”
Officials said the incident appears to have been accidental, but investigators are continuing to work to determine exactly what happened in the moments leading up to the man’s death.
The conductor of the train told the MTA that he was looking and did not see anyone being dragged. He has been removed from duty pending the outcome of an investigation.
The train has been inspected and no mechanical issues were found.
While rare, similar incidents have occurred in the New York City subway system. A 20-year-old man was killed in a similar way at the Columbus Circle station in 2022, and a 51-year-old man was dragged to his death at the Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike station in 2016.
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