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Photo of man about to be killed by New York subway causes furor

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Ya wanna have that heart attack outside, buddy ?

New Yawk Shitty.

The same as it ever was.

2 ( +10 / -8 )

Ummm, because it's New York. Crass, callous, and heartless. I lived there five long years. Great place…to be very far away from.

3 ( +13 / -10 )

I wonder if the guy should have laid down flat in the space between the tracks and the platform - better chance of survival there. Most of the Japan stations have crawling space there...

4 ( +5 / -1 )

I can see someone heartless enough to take their sweet time and shoot the final moments of a man's life instead of trying to help, but then to ADD to that and print it front page?? I hope the family finds grounds to sue... and sue big.

6 ( +10 / -4 )

The Post, which lives by its reputation for providing daily shock value, was unapologetic after several hours of the online barrage.

The New York Post, if I am not mistaken, is a right-wing, Murdoch-owned paper. It promotes the values of the right-wing philosophy with its actions. Why should it apologize? It is only doing what comes naturally when there are papers to be sold.

As the uproar grew, The New York Times, which styles itself as the paper that runs only the news “that’s fit to print,” ran an image of the horrific Post front page on its website and invited reader responses.

It's sad to see the venerable NYTimes join in on the bottom feeding like this. They should know better.

2 ( +8 / -6 )

Why didn't anyone help? Perhaps because they also didn't want to get killed? I'm all for helping folks but come on. This whole "I would have played the hero" bit folks make is BS. Poor taste to run the photo though.

2 ( +10 / -8 )

tmarie, it's not like the man was attacked by 20 guys with baseball bats ...

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Wow, often we accuse the Japanese of standing around not trying to helping people ... but this incident is pretty much amongst the worst.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Ummm, because it's New York. Crass, callous, and heartless.

Heartless?

In a no trans-fat, salt, tall-sugary-drink or smoking city, who loves ya, baby ?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

How were people supposed to help? Life isn't a Steven Seagal movie.....

3 ( +6 / -3 )

If it happens here in Tokyo, how many people will jump on the Yamanote line tracks to help someone? None right?

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

It's sad to see the venerable NYTimes join in on the bottom feeding like this. They should know better.

Obviously they did not. Perhaps they too promote the values of the right-wing philosophy with their actions and were only doing what comes naturally when there are papers to be sold. Then again, perhaps this has nothing to do with a 'wing' philosophy and they were both doing what comes naturally when there are papers to be sold.

At any rate, the photo should not have been taken and should not have seen the light of day when it was.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

AKBfan, have you seen the photo ? Just grabbing his arms to help him to get back on the platform is in my opinion not only possible in Hollywood ...

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Karma will reach this photographer, it's a matter of time. CNN reported that it invited Abassi for an interview, but he will do it only if paid. This shows the true character of this man.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Why aren't there any painted markings to show where a human can lie in case of a fall onto the tracks? A platform is an inherently dangerous place. A worldwide consciousness campaign with internationally-recognized coloring, even?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Pics or it didn't happen.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

tmarie

Why didn't anyone help? Perhaps because they also didn't want to get killed? I'm all for helping folks but come on. This whole "I would have played the hero" bit folks make is BS.

So true.

I wonder if they have those red buttons like they do here in Japan to stop oncoming trains. In Japan they don't encourage directly helping the victim because you could get killed. It has happened before where the rescuer got killed but not the victim. In Japan, hit that red button. NY should have them.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

AKBfan, have you seen the photo ? Just grabbing his arms to help him to get back on the platform is in my opinion not only possible in Hollywood ...

Haven't seen the photo but not sure i would grab some stranger on a train tracks arm in front of an oncoming train....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If it happens here in Tokyo, how many people will jump on the Yamanote line tracks to help someone? None right?

There was an incident at JR Shin-Okubo station a few years ago when someone fell onto the tracks. If I remember correctly, a Korean guy and a Japanese guy jumped down to help, all three died. There was also another incident at Tokiwadai on the Tobu-Tojo line when a policeman tried to save a women who had walked onto the tracks. He saved her, but unfortunately he was hit by the train and died.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

AKBfan, "Haven't seen the photo but not sure i would grab some stranger on a train tracks arm in front of an oncoming train...."

http://www.thespec.com/news/ontario/article/848198--furor-over-ny-post-photo-of-doomed-man

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Sadly I don't think I'd jump on to the tracks either unless I had a reasonable amount of time and an escape route if things went badly.

Haven't seen the pictures in this case to see what the exact situation was, but in this case I hope you'll forgive me for not wanting to look, either.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I agreed with the posters who spoke of onlookers not helping because they didn't want to get killed themselves and imagined the danger (and folly) of jumping down onto the tracks.....but if you actually see the photo, the man is hanging onto the platform, one arm stretched out - it looks very much like it would have been possible for someone to grab his sleeve and at least attempt to pull him up without putting themselves in danger.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

They prefer to make photos for their Facebook pages instead of any attempts to help stranded person? Not surprised. Quite normal for average American mindset. "That poor guy was looooser" or something like that......

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

A professional photographer will always shoot first regardless of the situation. It's a sad aspect of journalism that members of the profession often make their living off of the misery of others. I always shake my head in disbelief whenever some tv journalist sticks their microphone in the face of someone who has just experienced a tragedy. I am sure that people in the profession will defend the tendency to report rather than help victims by explaining that they are simply showing the world as it exists. They always fail to acknowledge that just by being there themselves during the event they have an effect in some way - often small but potentially in a large way.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

There is supposed to be space under the platform where it is safe to crawl into in these kinds of situations. I guess people don't realize or just panic with a train fast approaching. As to why the photo was published on the cover of the New York Post, you have to remember this is one of Rupert Murdoch's newspapers.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

New York City?? We have a cool saying in Spanish, Nueva York, Ni para cagar!!! RIP poor victim of random crazy idiot fool, at least I hope it was just random!

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

....but if you actually see the photo, the man is hanging onto the platform, one arm stretched out - it looks very much like it would have been possible for someone to grab his sleeve and at least attempt to pull him up without putting themselves in danger.

I disagree. Depending on the speed of the train, but I think you would be putting yourself in danger. His best bet would have been to hide in the gap under the platform.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Herve Nmn L'EisaDec. 05, 2012 - 08:59AM JST

Ummm, because it's New York. Crass, callous, and heartless.

So you would rather the newspapers run "two dead in subway accident" rather than "one dead in subway accident, photo on cover"? Lifting a 150lb+ person isn't easy, especially when the guy isn't even to help himself up because of the height. Not to mention the attacker was likely in the area at the time.

wanderlustDec. 05, 2012 - 09:05AM JST

I wonder if the guy should have laid down flat in the space between the tracks and the platform - better chance of survival there. Most of the Japan stations have crawling space there..

Only a few stations have any such room. People always threw trash and pumping the water out was a nightmare, so not many have space large enough for a person.

Before people start saying stupid things, the man in the photo WAS ATTACKED BY A LARGE BLACK MAN IN HIS 30s TO 40s. Video is available from a different angle, and while the photo makes it look like an empty station, it wasn't.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

A sad situation, but a classic example of the Bystander effect. The as the number of people witnessing an emergency the less likely it is that any will help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect

As to the NY Post printing the image: Rupert Murdoch. Nuff said.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50136376n

Here's the video, as you can see, there's more than half a dozen other people there, all of which were in just as good of a position to help.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

The N.Y.C. Transit Police were Forced to merge with the N.Y.P.D. to save $$$,causing Foot Patrols on Platforms to shrink to the bone,however after 9/11 the force in the Times Square area was beefed Up so Where were the Cops?? As to the fact nobody helped this poor fellow,it just happened the train was roaring into the Stn. at the time the man was pushed !They caught the @#$#@! who did the pushing, a Mentally Defective Pan-Handler with a history of violence.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

As agile and humanitarian as I am, there is no way in hell I would have jumped onto the track. If I were close enough I might have reached for an arm, but as Basroil points out, there would be the possibility of being pulled onto the track as well. I personally would have been more inclined to pursue the pusher and detain him until authorities arrived.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

basroil

Here's the video, as you can see, there's more than half a dozen other people there, all of which were in just as good of a position to help.

Yeah but how many of those other half a dozen made a decision not to help but rather take pictures thereby putting money ahead of a life. Of and the others in the video are further away than the cameraman. Disgusting actions by this guy. Just hope something similar happens to him someday and rather than being helped people merely film him. The less leaches like this guy in the world the better.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

no rude puns at the victim, but it didn't appear that he tried to crawl up on to the platform.... and certainly would have been dangerous for someone to jump in the tracks to help him and also to even try to pull him up at that level. It would have probably taken at least two people to pull him up.... Can't blame the bystanders.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

it looks very much like it would have been possible for someone to grab his sleeve and at least attempt to pull him up without putting themselves in danger

You'd risk being pulled down yourself. It's possible that the person was pushed shortly before the train arrives. Some lines in NY are busy. The highest-percentage move would be to shelter under the platform or between the two lines, if you can avoid the elecrical apparatus.

The newspaper should not have published the photo. There's enough misery snuff material already on the web.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Only one person should be sued and/or go to jail and that's the person who pushed him onto the path of the train. Photographers are just that, they are to report the news and take pictures. I don't think they are legally bound by law to participate in life saving act. Publishing the picture may have been a bad idea, but no lawsuit is in order here. Hope they find the killer. This is gonna turn into another "Martin Trayvann" case (February of this year). I hope I got that name right. But wow, this is really bad.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Okay, I think the name was "Trayvon". Anyone feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken, but I think we all remember the big story earlier this year.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It's not relevant to this discussion.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I take the train every day and looking at that photo, I don't see how anyone could have saved him. Hanging on to his arms would have dragged the would be hero to his or her death too.

Look at the distance. Then imagine your local subway or JR coming into the station at normal speed. This is reality not Hollywood. Nothing heroic was possible here. Only a suicidal failed attempt at heroism was possible.

The real answer here is to make sure that every station, everywhere has crawl space to escape into when someone is in danger. Nothing else is reasonable.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I haven't seen, nor do I want to see the photo under discussion here... but what kind of sick, twisted person would take a photo of a man about to be killed by a train, and worse, what kind of mentally deranged individual would buy said photo?

Sometimes Human Beings disgust me.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

come on, we've seen worse in movies, and that pic was not gory or egregious...you're letting yourself get affected just coz you know the backstory now

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Cramp - movies aren't real, it's SFX and make-up. This poor sod's last moments are splashed all over the net and a US rag for entertainment. Some people are just ghouls.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I'm a former New Yorker and I can tell you, it's about self-preservation. It's a tough place. I remember being taught as a kid not to look at anybody when you're out or on a train. Because you just never knew who would snap just for looking at them. Even in Tokyo, I still live by that rule (and stand as close to a wall as possible)

From what I read in other articles, the pusher had been harassing and cussing at other passengers. The poor guy who got pushed ,was trying to calm him down and instead was catapulted into the tracks. There were other folks on the platform,but they ran away. I'm pretty sure if you saw somebody getting stabbed, shot or thrown down like that, many of you wouldn't stick around to see what happens next. Unlike Tokyo, people don't only carry knives.

Having said that, the photographer guy doesn't get a pass. His excuse was that he wasn't strong enough to lift the guy up. But yet he was snapping away during the man's final moments. That's not self-preservation, it's perversion.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Outta hereDec. 05, 2012 - 02:32PM JST

Yeah but how many of those other half a dozen made a decision not to help

100% of them, so why pick on one of all of them? Why not pick on the one who was texting, the guy taking the video, or the random guys just looking and not budging?

but rather take pictures thereby putting money ahead of a life.

The guy was a photojournalist, but that didn't have anything to do with his choices. He could have just as easily not taken the photos AND not helped, like the other people there.

SpanishEyez37Dec. 05, 2012 - 07:28PM JST

Having said that, the photographer guy doesn't get a pass. His excuse was that he wasn't strong enough to lift the guy up. But yet he was snapping away during the man's final moments. That's not self-preservation, it's perversion.

From the things you can see in the photo, knowledge of the NYC subway, and quick estimates, that photo was taken less than 2 seconds from the time of impact. Even 10 seconds isn't enough to safely help the guy, and once you see the train come into the station, it's pretty much impossible.

As for "perversion", sure it's the final moments, but you know how many Pulitzer prizes have been won for for those types of photos? Photos of people burning to death, jumping from buildings, practically melting from chemicals, you name it, it's made someone famous not because they didn't care, but because they were at the worst possible place at the "best" possible moment. This guy probably won't get any prizes and never expected prizes when he shot it, and will probably suffer nightmares for years, why call him names on top of that?

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Remind me to never visit New York.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@basroil. I get what you're saying. The photo of the Vietnamese girl being burned by napalm, 9/11 pics etc. But what photo journalistic integrity did this photo have?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

One thing this article fails to mention and CNN does is the fact that the man who is about to get hit, in an effort to not bring anymore harm to others, told everyone to not help him and stand back. I'm not saying that I support his decision, nor would I refuse the possibility of help. One last point. We also know that the train was seconds away from hitting him when he fell. It may have been a situation that happened too fast for anyone to safely help him.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

So the photographer claims he was firing his flash at the train engineer to warn him? Are you sh*tting me? Have you ever had a flash go off in your eyes? How long does it take to get your vision back? I can't believe he thought anyone would believe that story.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

As for "perversion", sure it's the final moments, but you know how many Pulitzer prizes have been won for for those types of photos? Photos of people burning to death, jumping from buildings, practically melting from chemicals, you name it, it's made someone famous not because they didn't care, but because they were at the worst possible place at the "best" possible moment. This guy probably won't get any prizes and never expected prizes when he shot it, and will probably suffer nightmares for years, why call him names on top of that?

Still doesn't make it right. I still cringe when I see the burning Air France Concorde footage because I know those people are about to die. I can't watch the 3/11 earthquake footage, or the 9/11 footage for the same reasons. The deaths of people should be treated as a taboo subject as far as photos are concerned... who in their right mind wants to see stuff like this?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

NYC subways don't have a refuge area??? But to print this on the fron page of a paper is a new low.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

A photo of the fight? A photo of the guy that pushed him into the tracks?

The photo that I saw was clearly at a distance where the photographer probably couldn't have gotten to the edge and pulled the main out, but the fact that nobody else was there or trying speaks volumes. I've known many New Yorkers - most would have tried to help.

Any money this paper and photographer earn from the photo need to go towards improving safety features for NYC subways.

The guy that pushed him onto the tracks needs to be charged with manslaughter - at least, if not murder.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I don't know what happened, but it's unfair to infer from that photo that all New Yorkers are cold or that they don't care about what's going on outside their 1m radius world. I visited NY and everybody was kind and helpful. The only person who really was cold-hearted was the photographer.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The victim on the train track:

http://s3.jrnl.ie/media/2012/12/subway-death-630x472.jpg

NYC subway has indentations along the wall where people can use as refuge along the track. (If ya guys have ever seen the first Superman movie with Christopher Reeve, that was the path to Lex Luthor's secret lair.)

Not to mention the attacker was likely in the area at the time.

The perp ran away as soon as he pushed the guy. (He is now caught by the police.)

I don't know what happened, but it's unfair to infer from that photo that all New Yorkers are cold or that they don't care about what's going on outside their 1m radius world. I visited NY and everybody was kind and helpful.

In fact, here's the biggest NY story just before this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/nyregion/photo-of-officer-giving-boots-to-barefoot-man-warms-hearts-online.html?_r=0

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/1129/NYC-cop-buys-boots-for-homeless-man-photo-goes-viral-video

http://wiznation.com/1184644/feel-good-story-of-the-day-nyc-cop-buys-shoes-for-homeless-man-in-viral-photo/

http://www.upi.com/blog/2012/11/29/NYC-cop-buys-shoes-for-homeless-man-in-viral-photo/2491354199665/

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The victim on the train track:

http://s3.jrnl.ie/media/2012/12/subway-death-630x472.jpg<

Yet the train is not seen on that photo. The photographer had enough time just to give a hand.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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