A passenger died under a New York subway train: he was pushed onto the tracks by a mentally unstable man

A passenger was pushed onto the tracks at a subway station in East Harlem. The driver of the oncoming train failed to stop, and the man died. According to CTV News, the attacker was mentally unstable.

The murder suspect, 24-year-old Carlton McPherson, was arrested on murder charges. His mother, Octavia Skouras, said her son had already been hospitalized twice as mentally ill.

Although incidents of violence in the transport system are not all that common, commuters' fears of being pushed onto the tracks have long haunted them. The cases have received increased attention following a surge in crime during the COVID-19 pandemic as the city debated how to better deal with the homeless and mentally ill on the streets and in subways.

On Tuesday, March 26, Mayor Eric Adams reopened that discussion. He told a news conference at City Hall that New York still has a “serious problem of mental illness.”

Adams' plans

Since taking office in 2022, Adams has launched a crackdown on crime and homelessness in the metro area by deploying more police officers, mental health workers and social services workers. His plan involved involuntarily hospitalizing people, something advocates for people with mental illness vehemently opposed.

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He said the city continues to work to ensure that homeless people with mental illness receive treatment. According to officials, almost 7000 people have turned to shelters since the start of the campaign.

“We're working with people to help them find shelter,” said Anne Williams-Isom, deputy mayor for health and human services. “It’s the concept of keeping people in a shelter and giving them the support they need so they don’t spiral into the system.”

Adams argued that the state should expand the 1999 Kendra Law, which allows courts to order defendants with mental illnesses to undergo treatment. The law was named after Kendra Webdale, who died after she was pushed onto subway tracks by a mentally ill person.

While acts of violence have fueled an atmosphere of lawlessness, crime in the metro has dropped nearly 6% since he took office in 2022, Adams said.
“We hear it all the time: the city is out of control. This is not true,” Adams said.

Passengers are unhappy

An MTA study conducted in the fall of 2023 found that most riders would be more satisfied if the agency addressed “quality of life” issues such as panhandling and if there were fewer “challenged” people in the system.

A minority (about 30% of passengers) indicated a more visible police presence as their main need. For some people, the presence of police officers does make a difference.

To improve safety, the MTA recently trialled metal barriers at several subway stations, although the barriers have large gaps to allow passengers to enter and exit trains.

John O'Callaghan, one of the passengers, laments the lack of safety features on the platforms. In other countries and cities where he traveled for work, such as Hong Kong, access to the rails is blocked by plexiglass partitions.