NEW YORK – The heartbroken wife of a New York City man who was pushed onto subway tracks to his death by a mumbling stranger Monday says she and her husband had argued before the tragedy.
Ki-Suk Han, 58, died after the shocking incident, which happened at a Times Square station at midday as several witnesses watched in horror. Witnesses said a deranged panhandler who had been harassing straphangers shoved the Queens father as the Q train rumbled into the station. Han's distraught wife said her husband had left their apartment in a huff after the two quarreled.
“We had a fight,” the widow told the New York Post through tears. “I kept calling him and calling him to see where he was, but he didn’t answer.”
She said she tried to call her husband, but he didn't answer his cellphone.
Witnesses and police said Han approached the crazed man and tried to calm him down. But as the train pulled in, the stranger threw him onto the tracks and fled. Han tried to scramble back to the platform as onlookers frantically tried to wave the train to a stop. A Post freelance photographer, Umar Abbasi, witnessed the event and even used his camera flash in a failed bid to signal the train operator.
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“I just started running, running, hoping that the driver could see my flash,” said Abbasi, whose camera captured chilling shots of Suk’s tragic fight for his life.
Dr. Laura Kaplan, a second-year resident at Beth Israel Medical Center who was also on the platform, told the Post she tried to save the dying man.
“There was blood coming out his mouth. We couldn’t do CPR. He wasn’t in the right position. and there was just no way to get him out of there,” said Kaplan, 27.
Han, who lived with his wife and college-age daughter in Elmhurst, Queens, was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The assailant was last seen running out of the station. He was described by police as black, 30 to 40 years old, about 5-foot-9, with short dreadlocks. He was wearing a white T-shirt, dark jacket, filthy jeans, black sneakers with a white stripe and a black beanie cap.
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