Man pushed onto NYC subway tracks recovering, suspect charged with attempted murder

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Published Jan 02, 2025  •  2 minute read

Police officers patrol the F train platform at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in New York. Photo by Yuki Iwamura /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — A man who was shoved onto subway tracks ahead of an incoming train in New York City on New Year’s Eve is expected to make a full recovery, a relative said, while the person accused of pushing him was being held without bail Thursday on attempted murder and assault charges.

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Joseph Lynskey, 45, was standing on the platform in the West 18th Street station in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon when another man pushed him onto the tracks as a 1 train approached. Police called it a random attack.

Lynskey’s condition has been upgraded from critical to stable, police said.

Christopher Lynskey, told The Daily News that his brother’s injuries include a skull fracture and broken ribs, but he is awake and talking at Bellevue Hospital.

“He’s good,” said Christopher Lynskey, who flew in from Florida to see his brother. “He’s busted up a little bit, but he’s going to make a full recovery.”

A police department statement said responding officers were told Lynskey was struck by the train. Authorities did not say how Lynskey escaped with just broken bones.

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While a direct hit with a train is often fatal, some who fall from New York City’s platforms do manage to survive. Safety experts say if it’s not possible to get back on a platform or outrun a slowing train, lying down in the trough between the tracks may work in some stations, and there might be a space between the train and the platform at some stops.

Kamel Hawkins, 23, was taken into custody later that day and made his initial court appearance in Manhattan Wednesday, when a judge approved a request by prosecutors to detain the Brooklyn resident without bail pending his next court appearance on Monday.

Hawkins already had pending assault and harassment charges in Brooklyn, where he is accused of throwing bleach on a woman and trying to break into her home after threatening her, according to prosecutors.

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Hawkins’ lawyer in the subway case, Darryl Hairston, did not immediately return a phone message Thursday. His lawyer in the Brooklyn case, Jeremy Gross, said he had no immediate comment.

Hawkins’ father, Shamel Spencer, told The New York Times that he’s stunned by the allegations. He said Hawkins had some troubles with the law, but he never thought his son would be charged with anything so violent.

“He’s not a bad kid at all,” Spencer said.

The possibility of being pushed onto the tracks is a long-running nightmare for many New Yorkers. While it occurs rarely compared to the millions of rides each day, a push just this past March killed a person in East Harlem.

In New York, personal safety in the subway is generally comparable to safety in the city as a whole. But life-threatening crimes such as stabbings and shoves spread alarm about the trains, which carried more than 1 billion riders in 2024.

Police figures show major crimes on subways were down through November compared with the same period last year, but killings rose from five to nine.

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