A 57-year-old man in Brooklyn, New York, died after the shopping bag he was carrying became caught between the doors of a subway train, dragging him onto the tracks during Monday evening’s rush hour.
Yaw Boahene, a Brooklyn resident, was leaving a Manhattan-bound A train at the Utica Avenue station in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood when his bag became caught as the subway doors closed, according to police and investigators cited by ABC7.
Boahene was then dragged backward and pulled between train cars before falling onto the tracks as the train left the station.
Police Identify Man Killed In Subway Accident
New York police received a 911 call about the incident at around 6:05 p.m. ET on Monday. Officers who arrived at the station were told that a 57-year-old man had been found unconscious and unresponsive on the roadbed of the northbound A train.
Emergency medical personnel responded and pronounced Boahene dead at the scene, police said.
“The New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death, and the investigation is ongoing,” the New York Police Department said in a statement.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees New York City’s subway system, referred questions about the incident to police.
A witness who spoke to ABC7 said she was returning home from school when the incident happened. The accident prompted panic among people on the subway platform.
Subway dragging deaths have occurred before in New York City. In 2022, a 20-year-old man was killed after his clothing or backpack became caught in the doors of a 1 train at Columbus Circle station in Manhattan during rush hour.
According to the MTA, subway customer accidents increased by 2% in 2025. However, the agency said ridership grew at a greater rate than accidents, resulting in a 4.7% decrease in the 12-month accident rate.