Yesterday afternoon, a woman was fatally struck by a northbound 6 train at the 77th Street and Lexington Avenue station in Manhattan. Police now say that 48-year-old Rose Mary Mankos had jumped into the tracks to pick up her fallen bag. Witnesses were yelling at her to lie on on the track bed, but, the NY Times reports, "Panicked, the woman scrambled toward the platform and struggled to climb up, but was crushed as the train came charging into the station."
One witness told the Daily News, "She tried to climb underneath the platform and then she tried to climb up. I was yelling, 'Get down on the tracks, get down on the tracks!' but she just stood there." Another witness thought Mankos seemed "too scared" to climb up. According to the Daily News, "At the last instant, Mankos tried to press herself against the platform wall so the train would pass by her - but instead it crushed her between the first car and the wall."
The train's motorman had sounded his horn repeatedly—and also engaged the emergency brake. A passenger aboard the train, Glena Farr, said to the Times, "We felt a horrible thud. It was horrible. I’ve never felt anything like it, that terrible boom." The Post says, "It was chaos on the platform as straphangers shrieked with horror upon seeing the shredded parts of her body."
The police are investigating but do not suspect any criminality—they believe Mankos was simply trying to get her bag, which, the News reports, "contained toiletries and gym wear, but nothing of significant value." Further, NYC Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges has this reminder: "The message to our customers is clear: If you drop something on the tracks, do not attempt to retrieve it. Alert a transit employee or a police officer who will notify the Control Center, who in turn will send a crew to retrieve it."
Last December, a man was killed by a subway car while trying to pick up his MP3 player from the subway tracks at the Central Park West and 110th Street station and, in 2004, a woman was fatally struck by a train while trying to pick up her cellphone at the Grand Avenue station.
