Man fatally struck by elevated train in Bronx

by Keldy Ortiz

A man was fatally hit by a train in the Bronx early Thursday, police said.

The victim was on the tracks when he was smashed by an elevated southbound 6 train at the Morris Ave.-Soundview station on Westchester Ave. in Soundview at 2:43 a.m., according to officials.

...  Police do not believe the person was a victim of a crime, officials said.

Vic Nicastro/for New York Daily News

A pair of boots, believed to those of the victim, were found on (sic) two blocks away from the station on Westchester Ave. after the incident.

Let's try to understand what NYPD says happened.

Man decides to remove boots.

Then he decides to "go for a walk" on elevated tracks.

What NYPD has ruled out: This man was crime a victim and his killer(s) stole the boots but soon discarded them. Thanks to the lack of surveillance cameras there is no record of what actually happened.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/man-fatally-struck-elevated-6-train-bronx-article-1.2609601

Man Fatally Struck by Train

 By Aidan Gardiner

MANHATTAN — A man laying in the track bed of the 77th Street subway station was fatally struck by a train ahead of Tuesday morning's rush-hour commute, police said.

He was hit by a northbound train about 4:30 a.m. in the station near Lexington Avenue, an NYPD spokesman said.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

It wasn't immediately clear how he came to be lying in the tracks. Police are still investigating, they said.

Begin sarcasm.

The NYPD and the MTA will soon release the video tape of this dead-of-the-night event using the anti-crime cameras that exist throughout the system.

The New York police are well aware that the late night hours are favored by criminals who attack lone victims and they assure the public that if this was a homicide the entire force will soon be looking for the perpetrator (perpetrators?) once identity is established. 

End sarcasm. 

An important and enduring sign that protecting the MTA takes precedence over protecting passengers (or apprehending criminals) is the lack of surveillance cameras that could record violent subway crimes and aid the authorities in prosecuting perpetrators. The lack of such cameras enables MTA attorneys, assisted by cooperative police, to blame the victim … and allows violent criminals to go unpunished.Other subway systems that are thoroughly surveilled by cameras have recorded and released to the public acts of criminal violence in Philadelphia, Chicago, Philadelphia (again), London, Moscow, Moscow (again) and Washington DC.

Since the 9/11 attack, with the encouragement and financial support of the federal government, the MTA has been installing anti-terrorist surveillance cameras. But even those cameras may threaten the MTA’s ability to blame victims; in at least one case plaintiff's attorneys have asked the court to order release of recordings by anti-terror cameras.