Yesterday afternoon, a woman was fatally struck by a northbound 6 train at the 77th Street and Lexington Avenue station in Manhattan. Police now say that 48-year-old Rosemary Mankof had jumped into the tracks to pick up her fallen bag. Witnesses were yelling at her to lie on on the track bed, but, the NY Times reports, "Panicked, the woman scrambled toward the platform and struggled to climb up, but was crushed as the train came charging into the station."
One witness told the Daily News, "She tried to climb underneath the platform and then she tried to climb up. I was yelling, 'Get down on the tracks, get down on the tracks!' but she just stood there." Another witness thought Mankof seemed "too scared" to climb up. According to the Daily News, "At the last instant, Mankof tried to press herself against the platform wall so the train would pass by her - but instead it crushed her between the first car and the wall."
The train's motorman had sounded his horn repeatedly—and also engaged the emergency brake. A passenger aboard the train, Glena Farr, said to the Times, "We felt a horrible thud. It was horrible. I’ve never felt anything like it, that terrible boom." The Post says, "It was chaos on the platform as straphangers shrieked with horror upon seeing the shredded parts of her body."
The police are investigating but do not suspect any criminality—they believe Mankof was simply trying to get her bag, which, the News reports, "contained toiletries and gym wear, but nothing of significant value."
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