By Rebecca Henely
In a sad echo of an incident involving an Elmhurst man in Manhattan earlier this month, an unidentified man was pushed to his death in front of the No. 7 train Thursday evening in Sunnyside by a woman, police said.
Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said in a statement early Friday morning that the victim was trapped under the train and could not be identified or described. Authorities were on the lookout for the perpetrator: a heavyset, 20-something Hispanic woman about 5 feet 5 inches tall with brown or blonde hair. When last seen she was wearing a blue, white and gray ski jacket and gray and red Nike sneakers, Browne said.
The inexplicable crime occurred at 8:04 p.m. on the Flushing-bound platform at the 40th Street-Lowery Street stop, Browne said. Witnesses had reported that the woman was walking back and forth along the platform and talking to herself before she sat down by herself on a wooden bench near the platform’s north end, Browne said. The victim had been standing in front of her with his back toward her, Browne said.
As the train entered the station, the woman suddenly stood up and shoved the man in front of the train, Browne said. He was hit by the first car and trapped under the second before the train came to a full stop, Browne said.
The pusher ran away from the platform, down two staircases, through one of the toll booths and out to Queens Boulevard, where authorities lost her trail, Browne said. A surveillance video from the Oasis Restaurant
Power was temporarily cut to the tracks as police and Emergency Service personnel investigated the scene, although partial service was later restored to let some Flushing-bound No. 7 trains proceed, Browne said.
The grisly murder occurred at the tail end of a month in which Elmhurst resident Ki-Suk Han was pushed in front of a downtown-bound Q train in Midtown Manhattan. A 30-year-old homeless man, Naeem Davis, was later arrested and charged with the crime.
Straphangers hugged the walls of the 40th Street platform as the Monday morning commute was underway.
Those with information on Friday’s incident are asked to contact the NYPD’s CrimeStoppers. They can be reached by phone at 800-577-TIPS, by visiting crimestoppers.com or by texting 274637 (CRIMES) and then entering TIP577.
Reach reporter Rebecca Henely by e-mail at rhenely@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
