Person struck by F train in Queens

As reported in The Daily News: 

A person is in critical condition after being struck a train in Queens early Sunday, police said.

The victim was hit by the F train just after the Parsons Blvd. train station at 2:09 a.m. in Jamaica, officials said. It's not immediately known if the victim was taken to a nearby hospital.

Cops were on the scene investigating if the person was the victim of a crime.

1. The early morning hours are favored by the thugs who prey on passengers.

2.  The "police" investigating were likely from the Transit Bureau.

3.  Based on their record I think the police will conclude there was no crime, confident that there are no surveillance cameras that recorded the incident.

4.  If there are no further media reports on this event, be assured that the police did their job: the victim will be entirely responsible for his/her injuries. The MTA lawyers will be pleased.
      

Vic Nicastro for New York Daily

Surveillance Video of Subway Rapist!

Never in New York City.

But in Washington DC:

According to an arrest document signed by Metro Transit Detective C.H. Dorrity, investigators used high-definition surveillance video inside the Glenmont station, records from the suspect’s Metro SmarTrip card, and the woman’s recollection to identify Hicks.

The MTA and the NYPD have a strong aversion to cameras in the subway.

Their absence has even been noted in The Daily News and The New York Times.

I am convinced that the main reason NYC officials do not want anti-crime cameras is that they would interfere with their "see no evil" approach whenever unwitnessed track deaths occur. Without cameras the police can blame the dead person as they did in twenty-five (!) cases in 2012.

Of course the MTA has installed lots of cameras aimed at preventing the one crime they consider more important than murderous assaults on passengers: there are lots of cameras aimed at potential fare-beaters. 

Investigation Complete! The Dead Man Was Responsible for His Death!

Yesterday I posted an article from the Daily News with the headline "Police Investigating Death of Straphanger Found Between Subway Cars: NYPD."

Today the News has posted a new article with this quite different headline "Subway-surfing man, 24, dies after hitting head on F train, losing consciousness." I quote the article in full:

"A 24-YEAR-OLD man was killed after hitting his head while “surfing,” possibly atop a train rumbling through Brooklyn early Friday, authorities said.

"James A. Rubio was found unconscious, lying between two cars, by a passenger on a Queens-bound F train at the Jay St./MetroTech station in Downtown Brooklyn about 2:30 a.m., police said.

"Rubio, who lived in Queens, was rushed to Brooklyn Hospital with head trauma, but could not be saved.

"An official for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the doomed man hit his head while riding on the outside of a subway car — possibly on top, officials said.

""Rubio hit his head on a low hanging piece of metal as the train entered a tunnel", officials said.

"An autopsy has been scheduled, officials said.

"The MTA has repeatedly warned commuters about the dangers of surfing along the side or on top of subway cars."

Here are my questions and observations:

Did anyone see Mr Rubio climb up to the roof of the car, or is the "he was surfing" explanation a product of the NYPD's Transit Bureau?

What investigation was conducted? Were passengers on the train interviewed? Did anyone look for blood on any obstruction, something a "surfer" may have struck?

It is my impression that "surfing" in the subway is mainly practiced by teenagers who do it in groups. Mr. Rubio, a 24-year-old, was apparently traveling alone.


Subway criminals like to attack during the off hours when there are few witnesses. Mr Rubio was killed at 2:30 am.

If the police file a report claiming he was killed while "surfing" what are the chances that his family could successfully sue the MTA for damages? (How do you spell zero?) As I've already noted, the MTA is quite proud of its record of  rarely paying in suits by survivors of lethal subway "accidents."

I would love to know more about Mr Rubio. Was he employed? Did he have any history of "surfing?"

Added on May 10, 2006:

He was an electrician, per the New York Post.

Deciding to ride on top of a subway car while traveling alone at 2:30 in the morning is just the sort of thing an employed skilled laborer would not do.  

Police Investigating Subway Death

Police Investigating Death of Straphanger Found Between Subway Cars: NYP

by Trevor Kapp

Police are probing the death of a straphanger whose body was found with head trauma between cars of a Coney Island-bound F train early Friday morning.

The 24-year-old man was discovered between the cars at the Jay Street-MetroTech station around 2:30 a.m., police said.

 ... The man was transported to Brooklyn Hospital, where he died, the NYPD said.

Observation:

1. Thanks to the MTA and the NYPD's Transit Bureau, there are no cameras on New York"s  subway trains; the criminals responsible for this man's death will probably not be arrested even if the Transit Bureau, headed by Joseph Fox, does conduct an "investigation."

2. If the persons who attacked this young man had thrown him off the train would the NYPD have announced an "investigation" or would they simply have blamed the victim for having walked between the cars as they did in the case of  Lorraine O'Garro?

3. Once more an unconscious passenger didn't fall from a moving train, putting "lie!" to the NYPD/MTA oft-repeated assurance that conscious passengers routinely fall to their deaths while walking between cars.

4. Despite the routine classification of all un-witnessed track killings as "accidents"the post-midnight hours are favored by subway killers which prompts this question: does Joseph Fox tell his young-adult relatives that the subways are safe to use at all hours?  Does the Transit Chief actually believe all those "accidents" were accidents?

 

Twenty-three Thousand Surveillance Cameras Installed!

A report of a recent assault on a young woman in a Chicago train includes a statement by the Chicago Transit Authority that included the following paragraph.

CTA has more than 23,000 security cameras across all stations, buses and trains; it's one of the few system-wide networks in the nation and has proved to be an invaluable tool for police investigating crimes committed on or near CTA property. In fact, the cameras are a contributing factor behind the 25 percent decrease in crime reported across CTA properties in 2015 - the fourth straight year that crimes have decreased on the CTA.

Why doesn't the leadership of the NYPD demand that thousands of cameras be installed in the New York transit system?

Here's what I think: such cameras would record criminals killing victims in track homicides, jeopardizing the "no evidence of foul play" mantra automatically played by the NYPD when such violent deaths occur and there are no civilian witnesses. Cameras would make life difficult for the MTA's lawyers (it would be really hard to convince a jury that a murder victim was responsible for his own death) and I think keeping those lawyers happy is more important to NYPD's leadership than is protecting passengers from violent, even murderous, thugs.