Brooklyn Man Dies After Bag Caught in Subway Doors

A 57-year-old Brooklyn man died Monday evening after his plastic shopping bag became entangled in the doors of a New York City subway train.

Yaw Boahene was exiting an express A train at the Utica Avenue station around 6 p.m. ET when the incident occurred. Investigators determined Boahene was dragged along the platform by the moving train for the length of seven cars. He then collided with a wall at the end of the station, which leads into a tunnel, and fell onto the tracks. Police confirmed Boahene was not struck by the train itself.

Video footage reviewed by Demetrius Crichlow, president of New York City Transit, showed Boahene walking with a cane and appearing unsteady on his feet as he boarded the train at Rockaway Boulevard and again when exiting at Utica Avenue. Crichlow noted the bag involved was a thin plastic shopping bag.

"It’s a terrible situation, but we’re going to do whatever is possible to determine whether or not our equipment was part of it," Crichlow told The New York Times.

The conductor and the motorman of the train have been removed from service pending the outcome of the investigation. By regulation, operating a subway train longer than five cars requires both an operator and a conductor responsible for observing the platform as doors close and the train departs.