A man accused of fatally shoving another person into the path of an oncoming New York City subway train has been described by his mother and officials as having psychological issues.
The tragedy has revived discussions about how the city should respond to people experiencing mental health crises within the transit system.
The shoving victim, who has not been identified by authorities, was pushed onto the tracks inside an East Harlem subway station shortly before 7pm on Monday (11pm GMT), police said.
The operator of an oncoming train was unable to stop and the person was killed.
The suspect, Carlton McPherson, 24, was arrested on a murder charge, a police spokesperson said.
McPherson was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday.
His mother, Octavia Scouras, told The New York Times her son had been admitted to hospital for mental health treatment at least twice.
While violence in America’s largest transit system is rare, being shoved from a subway station’s narrow platform onto the track has long loomed large in riders’ fears.
The infrequent instances received heightened attention following a spike in crime during the Covid-19 pandemic, as the city debated how best to address homelessness and mental illness in the streets and underground.
Mayor Eric Adams renewed that discussion on Tuesday, saying at a City Hall news conference that New York City still has a “severe mental health illness problem” that “played out on 125th Street and Lexington Avenue at the subway station”.
After taking office in 2022, Mr Adams launched an effort to tackle crime and homelessness on the subway, sending more police, mental health and social service outreach workers into the system. His plan included involuntarily admitting people to hospital, a move fiercely opposed by advocates for people with mental illness.
On Tuesday, he said city officials are still working to get homeless people with mental health issues into treatment. Nearly 7,000 people have checked into shelters since the move began, officials said.
“We’re there engaging people. Getting people connected to shelter,” said Anne Williams-Isom, Mr Adams’ deputy mayor for health and human services. “It’s this concept of keeping them in shelter and getting them the support that they need so they’re not spiralling in and out of the system.”
Mr Adams argued that the state should further expand 1999’s Kendra’s Law, which allows courts to order defendants with mental health issues to complete treatment.
The law was named for Kendra Webdale, who died after being pushed onto the subway tracks by a man with a history of mental illness.
Mr Adams said that although acts of violence like the fatal shove fuel the perception of lawlessness, subway crime is down nearly 6% since he took office in 2022.
“We hear this over and over again: The city’s out of control. It’s just not true,” Mr Adams, a former transit police officer, said at the news conference.
Monday’s fatal push happened on the same day that New York City officials announced a plan to send 800 more police officers into the subway system to crack down on fare evasion and an hour after a city police officer was fatally shot during a traffic stop, the first member of the department to be killed in the line of duty in two years.
With subway ridership still lagging after the pandemic, a fall 2023 study by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) found many customers said they would be more satisfied if the agency addressed “quality of life” concerns such as begging, as well as if there were fewer people “behaving erratically in the system”.
A smaller portion, around 30 per cent, listed a more visible security presence as a top requirement.
In an effort to keep people off the tracks, the MTA has also recently been testing hip-high metal barriers at a handful of subway stations, though the fences have large gaps to allow travellers to get on and off trains.
