On Monday morning a 45-year-old man was killed in the Bronx after he appeared to commit suicide by jumping in front of a subway train at the Kingsbridge Road station. At the time he was also holding onto his 5-year-old daughter, though she managed to survive by falling into a crevice between the tracks.
The New York Times reports that the father, 45-year-old Fernando Balbuena-Flores, was hit just before 8 a.m., and that he was pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses say the man had been heard on his phone saying "I don't care" and "goodbye" in Spanish prior to jumping. As for the child, she was taken to a nearby medical center after suffering cuts. She is reportedly in stable condition.
At least one person recorded a video of the aftermath, which showed the girl being pulled out from under the subway car by a pair of men.
One of the men in the footage, 32-year-old Antonio Love, says he was arriving at the station when he heard people screaming. When he got up to the train platform he says that he saw the other guy in the video, identified as Jairo Torres, attempting to help. Love says the girl's father was crushed under the wheels and that she was bleeding from her head while crying when he saw her. The two good samaritans called for her and she crawled toward them prior to them helping her up onto the platform.
Love, who was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital along with Torres, says his injuries aren't serious, but that he was mainly shocked by the whole event. He also pointed out that he was appalled by the amount of people whose first instinct was to yank out their phones to film instead of, you know, actually trying to help.
“It was just panicking,” Love said. “Like regular New Yorkers, pulling out their phones. Really? Let’s get down there and help.”
To add further insult to injury, Love left his bag on the platform and it was stolen.
The NY transit authority reports that 32 people have been killed this year after being hit by a train, and that was only as of July 22. In that same timeframe trains had hit 103 people on either platforms or the actual tracks.
In 2018, 68 people died from being hit by trains from 189 total incidents.
