Woman who dropped her cellphone onto subway tracks is killed by rush hour train ‘while trying to retrieve it’
- A woman in her 30s or 40s ended up on the tracks at 59th Street station in Brooklyn and was run over by northbound R train at 8.15am
- Police previously said victim died trying to retrieve her phone from the tracks
- MTA later claimed woman leaped to her death in front of oncoming train
- Incident snarled morning rush hour commute for hours before service on N and R lines was restored
A woman lost her life early Monday morning at a Brooklyn subway station after jumping in front of a Manhattan-bound train.
The deadly incident took place at around 8.15am on the northbound R/N platform at the 59th Street subway station in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn.
There have been conflicting reports concerning the circumstances of the fatality.
A woman in her 30s or 40s ended up on the tracks at 59th Street station in Brooklyn and was run over by northbound R train during the Monday morning rush hour
Commuter Steve Loff tweeted about the fatal incident, which resulted in the evacuation of the R train that struck the woman
According to an initial police statement, a woman in her 30s or 40s may have dropped her cellphone onto the tracks and was trying to retrieve it when she was struck by an oncoming train.
Later, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority stated that the woman appeared to have jumped in front of an R train with the intention of taking her own her life.
Paramedics who were called to the station pronounced the victim dead at the scene.
MTA tweeted about the incident, which caused service on the N and R lines to be suspended for hours
The emergency responder were later photographed carrying a black body bag containing the woman’s remains out of the station.
Her name was being withheld pending the notification of next of kin.
Service on the N and R lines was suspended during the police investigation, but it resumed at 10.30am.
Commuters traveling to Manhattan on the N, R and D lines, however, continued experiencing residual delays throughout the late morning.