In a chilling display of indifference, the man accused of fatally pushing a commuter to his demise at a Manhattan subway station faced murder charges without a hint of regret. Carlton McPherson, 24, allegedly propelled a 54-year-old man from the Bronx into the path of an oncoming No. 4 train just before 7 p.m. on Monday. This incident adds to McPherson’s extensive history of arrests and troubling behavior, according to police reports.
Dressed in a grey hoodie and black trousers, McPherson emerged from the 25th precinct in East Harlem shortly after 9:35 a.m. on Tuesday. Despite initially smirking before attempting to conceal his face with his hoodie, officers promptly exposed his face, and McPherson adopted a stoic expression, deliberately avoiding the press cameras without uttering a word or acknowledging any questions from reporters.
The arrest of McPherson followed after he was identified by witnesses as the individual who pushed the victim onto the tracks as the train approached the 125th Street station. The victim was tragically struck by the train and declared dead at the scene shortly after the arrival of the authorities.
This horrifying event underscores the ongoing concerns regarding safety within the city’s transit system. A recent investigation by The Post highlighted a surge in felony assaults on the subway, which have increased by over 50% since 2019, now constituting a larger share of the total transit-related crimes.
In response to the escalating crime rates, the NYPD initiated “Operation Fare Play” on Monday. This new strategy involves deploying 800 officers across the subway network over a week to crack down on fare evasion, a move that police leadership believes is crucial to curbing underground criminal activity.