Death at Times Square station: A woman pushes commuter into path of subway train, police say

By Travis M. Andrews

https://twitter.com/travismandrews

November 8 at 3:50 AM

On Monday, every subway commuter’s nightmare became reality when a 49-year-old Queens woman was shoved off a subway platform into the path of an oncoming train.

It occurred at the Times Square subway station around 1:20 p.m., when a southbound No. 1 train was entering into the station. Police said Melanie Liverpool-Turner, a 30-year-old Queens woman whom they described as “emotionally disturbed,” pushed the 49-year-old onto the tracks. ... The two women did not seem to know each other.

The victim, whose name has not been released by authorities, was struck with great force almost immediately. The train quickly came to a stop, leaving her body lodged under the third car, according to the New York Times.
....

While deaths involving the subway system are not common, a few have occurred in the past few years. ... Perhaps the most famous case was that of 58-year-old Queens resident Ki Suk Han, who was shoved in front of an oncoming Q train in early December 2012. His last seconds were captured by R. Umar Abbasi, a freelance photographer. ... The New York Post chose to run that photo as the cover of its tabloid, accompanied with the words “Pushed on the subway track, this man is about to die” and the all-caps graphic headline, “DOOMED.” The cover inevitably launched a firestorm of criticism against the publication.

Woman Thrown in Front of Train at Times Square Subway Station Is Killed

By MARC SANTORA NOV. 7, 2016

A 49-year-old Queens woman was killed after being pushed in front of a subway train in Times Square on Monday, the New York Police Department said. The attack disrupted traffic at one of the city’s busiest transit hubs as trains were diverted and emergency workers converged on the scene.

Assistant Chief William Aubry, the commander of Manhattan detectives, said witnesses on both the subway platform and the train itself flagged down police officers and pointed out a suspect.

Melanie Liverpool-Turner, a 30-year-old Queens woman, was taken into custody almost immediately and later charged with second-degree murder. The police described her as emotionally disturbed and said that she had made up a story last month about pushing a woman onto the tracks. The victim’s name was not immediately released.

The police were combing through video from the platform and the area to better understand what happened, but the preliminary investigation suggested that the attack was unprovoked.