Person pushed onto NYC subway tracks before oncoming train: police

NEW YORK (WPIX) – A person was pushed onto subway tracks in front of a train in New York City Tuesday afternoon, police said. The alleged attack comes just days after a 57-year-old woman was fatally set on fire aboard a subway train.

The New Year's Eve incident happened at the 18th Street station in Manhattan's trendy Chelsea neighborhood around 1:40 p.m., according to the NYPD.

The victim was standing near the edge of the platform when the suspect came up from behind and pushed him onto the southbound tracks just before the train passed by, surveillance video showed.

The victim suffered a head injury and was hospitalized in critical condition, according to authorities.

A person of interest has been taken into custody, police said.

Victim identified in fatal subway burning

On Tuesday, police also identified the woman allegedly burned to death on an F train in Brooklyn Dec. 22 as 57-year-old Debrina Kawam.

Kawam, of Toms River, New Jersey, was likely asleep on a train that had stopped in the Stillwell Avenue subway station when 33-year-old Sebastian Zapeta allegedly set her on fire, according to the NYPD.

Zapeta has been indicted on state charges and remains jailed at New York City's Rikers Island complex. Prosecutors expect the indictment to be unsealed Jan. 7.

The subway is a vital mode of transportation for millions of New Yorkers – the city celebrated its billionth rider of 2024 in November – and high-profile acts of violence can put the city on edge.

"When you have these incidents, it overshadows the success and it plays on the psyche of New Yorkers,” Mayor Adams said in a recent televised interview.

Police reported that major crimes were down through November compared to the same period in 2023, according to the Associated Press. However, homicides – not including Kawam's death nor that of a rider fatally stabbed at a Queens subway station the same day – jumped from five to nine in 2024.